Background Secrets
by Calai'di
Summary: COMPLETE: What if Harry and Draco were really friends behind all the insults and fights with each other? When would it have started and where would it end? Major spoilers for books 3,4,5,6. DMHP, FGL, BZSF, OWOC, HPCD
1. Part I Ch I The Summer it Started

Calai'di: -sigh- I should really stop coming up with new ideas.

Anyway, I was on AFF and I happened read a DxH and then, of course, I had to go read more, so eventually I became inspired and I just had to write one of my own. So here it is: the best idea out of three that I had for a DxH. I hope you like it.

Warnings: this has YAOI. That means two guys liking each other and doing all those lovely things two people do when they're in private. If you don't like it, don't read. Please don't flame either, because I am warning you now and it's your fault if you read further.  
Also, this hasn't really been betaed, so there are going to mistakes.  
Possible character death eventually, definite spoilers from all books except the first two, swearing, violence

Rating: PG-13 (T), but it will probably go up

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it. If I did, Snape wouldn't be such a bastard, nor would Draco, and book six wouldn't have had that horrible ending.

So, please enjoy!

* * *

Background Secrets

Part I: Third Year

Chapter I: The Summer it Started

It started the summer before third year.

Or rather, he supposed, it had started earlier than that, the moment they first met in Madam Malkin's and didn't know who the other was.

But he knew everything had really taken off the summer after second year, since he was finally allowed to let Hedwig out and could receive letters from his friends.

Harry was never quite sure what drove him to write to the blond in the first place, though it may have stemmed from the feelings he'd felt since that very first meeting. Or maybe he was just bored and wanted something to do or someone to talk to since he technically wasn't allowed to send letters to his friends, someone who didn't think of him as the hero of the wizarding world. But write he did, and he certainly didn't expect any response from Draco. After all, what could you say to someone you hated as much as he hated Harry? And so he wrote the letter without really realizing why, nor expecting a response in return.

_Dear Malfoy,_

_I can't believe I'm writing to you, especially just out of the blue like this. I bet you're just as shocked though, so that's something. I really have no clue as to why I thought I should write, but it seemed like something to do._

_Gah, I feel like I've gone insane._

_I guess I just wanted someone to talk to since I've been forbidden from sending letters to my friends with my owl and they haven't sent me anything anyway. But you're not exactly a friend, are you? So maybe I'm not breaking the rules by sending you this._

_I honestly don't expect a response to this, though even a list of insults would be interesting. Actually, you could send a Howler and I really wouldn't care. It'd be kind of funny to see the expressions on my aunt and uncle's faces if something suddenly started screaming from my room._

_Wow, I have gone insane._

_Anyway, you're welcome to write back, though I really don't see why you would._

_Harry Potter (your most bitter rival)_

He'd even considered never sending the letter, since it seemed he really had lost it and Malfoy was sure to tell him that _if_ he responded. But he figured he had nothing to lose, and every bit of what he'd written was true (especially the part about seeing his relative's expressions if he did get a Howler), so he signed Malfoy's name on the front and gave it to Hedwig as soon as she got back from her nightly hunt.

* * *

It was precisely two weeks after the end of term when he did get a response. 

Harry had just closed his bedroom door, ready to just flop onto his bed and drop off after a rather grueling evening with the Dursleys, when he heard an odd tapping sound coming from his closed window. It almost sounded like an owl, but Hedwig was in her cage (it had been mildly disappointing when she'd come back from Malfoy without a response) and his birthday wasn't for a couple of months. He supposed it could have been one of his friends' owls with a letter, but he doubted it, since both Ron and Hermione probably thought he was already in major trouble with his uncle. So, a little flabbergasted, he went over and opened the window to let in a beautiful eagle owl with a letter in its beak. He didn't recognize the owl at first, or the handwriting on the letter, be he gasped softly a moment after taking the letter from its mouth.

"You're Malfoy's owl, aren't you?" he whispered in awe as he reached a hand up to gently stoke its feathers. The owl hooted proudly and lightly nipped at Harry's fingers before flying over to Hedwig's cage to take a drink of water. Harry watched for a moment before flopping back onto his bed to look over the letter. Malfoy's handwriting was actually fairly neat, not surprisingly, and he was amused to see that the letter had been sealed with red wax and what he could only assume was the Malfoy family crest. With a fair amount of enthusiasm, he broke the seal and pulled out the letter, a little glad the blonde's handwriting was so tidy.

_Dear Potter,_

_You're absolutely right for once; you've gone completely insane. Seriously, why would you write to _me_ of all people? Don't you have anyone other than the Weasel and Granger you could write to? Surely I'm not the only one you thought you could write without getting in trouble._

_I can honestly say I was flabbergasted when I got your letter. In fact, I almost didn't write you back, but you provided a rather unique opportunity. I've been wondering who I could write to that wouldn't be a complete waste of my time. I suppose you'll have to do; Merlin knows I couldn't write to Crabbe or Goyle. I'm not sure they can actually write intelligently._

_You live with Muggles don't you? You know, I almost feel sorry for you; from what you've said, they seem completely horrid. I suppose I could send you a Howler next, though it would rather defeat the point if you enjoyed getting it. The list of insults sounded entertaining as well, though I think I'd rather send it to Weasley than you._

_Feel free to write back, I suppose, but don't expect me to reply again._

_Ever still your arch enemy,_

_Draco Malfoy_

Harry had an amused smile on his face once he was done reading and he almost immediately started digging under the loose floorboard under his bed for a quill, ink, and parchment so he could respond. Malfoy was actually a lot more polite than he'd imagined; he really had expected to get a Howler, though in retrospect, he was glad he hadn't. He was already on sour terms with his aunt and uncle, and while it would be hilarious to see their expressions at first, he didn't really feel like being locked in the cupboard under the stairs with his school things for the rest of the summer.

When he came back up from under the bed, he was surprised, though thankful, to see that Malfoy's owl had not left but was perched on Hedwig's cage, seemingly ignoring Harry's own bird.

"Did Malfoy tell you to wait for my letter?" he asked with a faint smile. The owl clicked his beak in assent and went back to preening its feathers in a rather Malfoy-like fashion. Harry shook his head with amusement and leaned against the headboard, a piece of parchment resting on one of his school books against his knees, to set about writing a response to the blond Slytherin.

_Dear Malfoy,_

_You'd be amazed (maybe disgusted even) at how shocked and pleased I was to get your letter. It couldn't have come at a better time; I've had hell from the Muggles all day. And just so you know, sending that Howler might be a bad idea after all._

_To answer your questions: I'm not sure why I wrote to you except that I was bored having to just do homework and I can't write to my friends, like I said before. Anyone other than Ron and Hermione I thought of was either a friend or someone I thought was too stupid to respond. Or someone who hero-worships me, and I'd rather not waste time reading 'fan mail' from some giddy girl._

_And yes, I do live with Muggles; three of the worst that exist. It's nice of you to almost feel sorry for me; I can hardly imagine what it must be like to grow up and live in a wizarding household. Aside from having an absolute git as a father, I almost envy your luck._

_Still wondering why I'm writing you,_

_Harry Potter_

_P.S. You have a beautiful owl by the way. What's his name?_

Yes, that would have to do. He still really wasn't sure _why_ he was writing to Malfoy at all, but at least it was something to do besides homework. And they still managed to insult each other anyway, so they weren't becoming _friends_. That would signal the end of the world, he believed.

With a faint smile at that thought, he folded up the letter, wrote Malfoy's name on the outside, and went over to where the eagle owl was now waiting on his window sill.

"Make sure he replies right away, okay?" Harry asked softly as he held the letter out to the owl. "And I'll give you a special treat when you come back." The owl hooted happily before taking the letter in its beak and flying off.

* * *

It was the next night at midnight when Malfoy's owl returned and Harry was so startled that he almost upset his ink bottle onto his sheets. Thankfully he didn't, because then Aunt Petunia would find out that he was secretly doing his summer homework at night, but it did take him a moment to make sure his sheets were safe before he could get up to let the owl inside. It seemed that Malfoy lived somewhat nearby since he'd responded so quickly. Harry smiled at the owl as he let it in and gave it a thin slice of the apple he'd been eating as a treat, like he'd promised, after he took the letter the owl was carrying. 

It seemed slightly odd, he reflected as he flopped down on his bed, to sit back and read an anticipated letter from _Draco Malfoy_, but at least it relieved him of his homework and the Dursleys for a short time.

_Dear Potter,_

_May I express my pride that I can get you to abandon your homework for several minutes!_

_Professor Snape should award me house points when we get back to school._

_And what's with all the flattery? I suppose you have a good reason, considering the Muggles you say you live with, but I would never expect it coming from you._

_Actually, I have been wondering what it's like to live with Muggles, especially yours. You keep complaining about them, and I know Muggles are horrible, but they couldn't possibly be that bad._

_Oh, and if you tell me about it, I'll tell you about my life in the wizarding world that you yearn for so much._

_Lastly, DON'T INSULT MY FATHER, POTTER!_

_Draco Malfoy_

_P.S. You have good taste in owls, then. His name is Thiassi, after a giant in Norse mythology that tricked and almost killed the gods. Thiassi (the giant) could turn into an eagle. Your owl is quite beautiful also; she's not of a very common breed around here._

Harry had almost laughed when he saw Malfoy's bold warning; he wouldn't be surprised if the blond wrote the entire letter just for that one line. And they were complimenting each other's owls in the meantime. The world must be ending.

"Thiassi..." he murmured softly, testing out the name. The owl clicked his beak in response and Harry smiled softly. "Do you mind waiting here until morning? It's going to take a little while to answer your master's letter," Harry asked, addressing the owl directly this time. Thiassi hooted softly and briefly ruffled his feathers before appearing to go to sleep.

Harry quickly hid all of homework supplies and the flashlight he'd been using under the loose floorboard, set Malfoy's second letter on the nightstand with the first, made sure the window was open Hedwig when she came back, and checked off another day on his homemade chart. Then he briefly checked the time on the glowing alarm clock next to the letters and got into bed, going over in his mind all the horrible things he could say about the Dursleys in his letter.

* * *

"Boy! Wake up! Go make breakfast!" 

Harry groaned softly when Aunt Petunia's shrill voice and heavy rapping on his door woke him up from a rather odd dream that he couldn't really remember. His hand groped around a bit for his glasses and he started slightly when it touched the letters on his bedside table, only remembering what they were after a moment. A faint smile formed on his lips when he thought of how well he and the blond Slytherin were getting along through their letters, hardly insulting each other at all and even then it was fairly weak. Maybe they could have a friendship, though Ron and Hermione would hate the idea, and something kept niggling at him at the back of his mind that prevented him from posing the question in one of his letters.

As soon as he found his glasses and put them on, he looked over at Hedwig's cage to make sure she'd come back and that Thiassi had really stayed through the night; the eagle owl was still sleeping on top of the cage, and his own owl was looking up at him with interest. Harry went over and closed the window nearby so neither owls could leave, doing it quietly so he wouldn't wake Malfoy's owl.

"This is Thiassi. He's Malfoy's owl," Harry explained softly to his own owl. "So be nice to him, okay? I'll bring you both something from breakfast." Hedwig hooted softly and nipped affectionately at his fingers before he moved out of reach.

"Hurry up!" Aunt Petunia screeched outside his door, rapping on it again.

"I'm coming Aunt Petunia!" Harry called back as he headed toward the door. He knew that his aunt would never barge into the room to wake him up, since she was afraid of him deep down, but it never hurt to keep her in a relatively good mood. He noticed with amusement, when he looked back into the room from the doorway, that Thiassi had yet to awaken even with all that noise. Harry just hoped the owl wouldn't freak out when he finally woke and saw that the window was closed, Harry was gone, and another owl was in the room with him.

* * *

Malfoy's owl woke with a start and ruffled his feathers indignantly when Harry stormed into the room after breakfast, slamming the door behind him as he went. Hedwig, who was used to these kinds of events, merely hooted sympathetically and tried to calm Thiassi down before he brought the Dursleys up to see what the problem was. Harry smiled slightly in thanks, but his expression darkened as soon as he flopped down onto his bed. 

Breakfast had been such a disaster. First of all, he'd been so distracted thinking about what he should write in his letter that he's burned the eggs and had to start over, and then he'd spilled half of the orange juice on the floor. Uncle Vernon had yelled at him until hi was almost hoarse and ordered him to make twice as much food as usual because of his blundering. Then, once the food was done and everyone had started eating (Harry was allowed as much as usual, even though there was twice as much food) Uncle Vernon had declared that he was taking the family, Harry excluded of course, to the new water park that had just opened–the one he'd been longing to go to since he'd come back from school. Dudley knew perfectly well how much Harry wanted to go, and he took great pleasure in taunting him until the front door had closed behind them. They, of course, left him to do the dishes, and there were twice as many as usual because of Uncle Vernon's demands that morning. Harry was, needless to say, extremely pissed off and upset once he was done, though he really hadn't meant to scare Thiassi like he had.

He suddenly remember the small packet of toast crumbs, eggs, and sausage he'd brought up for the owls, so he pulled it out of his pocket and set it on the desk close to the owls so both would have an equal chance. Then with a sigh, he grabbed Malfoy's second letter and lay back on his bed to read over it again. A small smile formed on his lips as he read, absently wondering whether he could bring Malfoy over to the good side of the wizarding community; he seemed a little too kind to be on Voldemort's side. He'd have to stop insulting Ron and Hermione though.

But what if Malfoy ended up switching him over to Voldemort's side? Harry shivered slightly at the thought; that could never happen; they weren't friends, and they were just writing to each other for something interesting to do. Nothing more than an unusual summer could come out of this, right?

So why did he all ready feel like he wanted it to keep going even after the summer?

But now he had a letter to write; he'd worry about how long this would last later. He wasn't planning to waste any more parchment though; no, he'd thought of something else during breakfast, and he'd like to see Malfoy's reaction to it. He had to look over a couple of the shelves in the room before he found what he was looking for–one of Dudley's old spirals for school. Harry knew his cousin hardly used more than ten pages in a school year, but Aunt Petunia always bought him at three each semester, so they ended up piling in the spare bedroom, now Harry's, along with the books that were never read. Now Harry planned to put this fresh supply of paper to good use so he could keep his parchment for his homework.

He settled on his bed again and started writing, telling about what it was like growing up with the Dursleys as best as he could so Malfoy would understand some of the Muggle things that went on. Actually, he even went past explaining what had gone on before he'd found out he was wizard; he wrote about last summer and this summer as well, although that took considerably less space. And at the end, he included a somewhat friendly postscript:

_That's a name I'd expect you to name an owl, actually. Hagrid bought me Hedwig (my owl) as a birthday present the first time I went to Diagon, shortly after we met. I couldn't wish for a better owl, although yours is pretty nice. Don't worry, I'm not planning to steal him. By the way, is there anything you don't want him to eat?_

All in all, the letter was about three pages long, two of them front to back, but Harry was satisfied that he'd covered everything Malfoy might want to know. The blond was not, of course, Mr. Weasley, and therefore didn't need, or want, Harry was sure, to know every detail of how the refrigerator light comes on when the door is opened. He just hoped that Malfoy's letter would be just as long, since he was eager to read about what it would be like to grow up around magic all the time.

With a soft sigh at this thought, Harry went over to Thiassi and tied the letter to his leg. "You'll have to show me his reaction when you get back," Harry murmured with a faint smile. Thiassi hooted softly and soared out the window off to the west.

* * *

When Harry woke the next morning, the first thing he saw was a dark shape perched on the bedpost at the foot of his bed. He scrambled for his glasses so he could see better, though he already knew what the shape was. 

"Thanks, Thiassi," Harry said as he took the letter Malfoy's owl was carrying. Thiassi ruffled his feathers importantly and flew over to settle on Hedwig's cage again. Harry hardly noticed what the bird did, though, since he was already eagerly reading Malfoy's letter, which was almost as long as the one he'd written.

_Dear Potter,_

_What odd parchment! Is it Muggle-made? It's very useful, though having the lines wastes space. You should just use regular parchment like everyone else._

Harry laughed softly as he read this, making a mental note to use the regular lined paper from then on. These thoughts soon flew out of his head as he started reading the account of Malfoy's life, which was just as detailed as what he himself had written. And it was almost everything he could have imagined; Malfoy had grown up as one of the rice kids, always having what he wanted but not really spoiled. His mother cared for him from a distance, though more than his father, who didn't really have much contact with him at all; it was usually only at parties or business meetings that he was required to attend for a few minutes. For the most part, he had grown up on his own with only the house elves caring for him. He, of course, got presents for every birthday and Christmas, though he hardly ever saw his parents even on those days. He'd always had friends growing, like Crabbe and Goyle, though he'd never actually liked most of them; he only hung around them to alleviate his boredom. He'd gotten a child's wand, which really only allowed sparks to be made, at age five, and his first broom at eight, which was why he was such a good flyer.

Of course, everything changed on the first train-ride to school, because that was the first time his offer of friendship had been rejected–by Harry, whom he'd always heard about growing up and had actually held a sort of respect for. After all, how many other one-year-olds, or anyone for that matter, could survive the Killing Curse at the end of Voldemort's wand. But he'd never expected Harry to reject his friendship, and so he started hating him for it rather than admit that maybe something was wrong with himself; he was a Malfoy and therefore perfect after all. He only hated Harry more when the brunet gained a position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team in first year–a feat that seemed impossible. And after each feat Harry accomplished, that hatred only increased. Of course, he still held a fair amount of respect for Harry, though now it was because now he had someone that was actually almost his equal and wouldn't back down when provoked, and he therefore wouldn't be bored as much as before.

That was only reason he sent Dobby to Harry's house that second summer; he knew what his father planned to do and he didn't want his rival to get hurt so much he didn't have one any more. Dobby overdid his job a little, but Malfoy wasn't surprised since the elf had always been rather eccentric. And now that it was second year, he could get onto his own house's Quidditch team and become even more of a rival to Harry. The reason he was so jealous of Harry when the brunet began getting blamed for Riddle's attacks was mostly because once again, he couldn't seem to be able to amount to the same as Harry, _and_ he had known exactly what was going on, but couldn't say a thing about it. He'd been extremely jealous when Harry, a Gryffindor, could speak Parseltongue, and then even more so when he'd not only entered the Chamber of Secrets but had also come out fairly unscathed (although he was admittedly secretly relieved about this).

Which all led up to how surprised he'd been when he'd received Harry's letter the few days before.

…_I explained about that in the first letter, though. And that's pretty much been my life so far. If you're shocked about any of it, know this: You were honest with me, so I had to return the favor. We Slytherins can be trusted, after all, though usually only in certain circumstances. But if I find this letter (or any of them actually) lying around school anywhere, I swear I will personally hex you beyond recognition._

_Draco Malfoy_

_P.S. Why do want to know? Have you been feeding my owl without asking first? I don't want him eating candy or sweets and only anything other than owl treats in small amounts. So don't go stuffing him every time he's at your house or he'll get spoiled and expect it._

_Are you ever going to use Hedwig again before school starts? I'd like to see her again, and I think Thiassi likes her a little anyway._

Harry was rather speechless once he'd finished reading the letter and had to go back over a couple of lines to make sure he'd read them correctly the first time. Was it possible that Malfoy sounded almost...friendly and perhaps even slightly ashamed? It was almost as if he was asking for Harry's friendship once more, though not nearly as obviously as the last time for fear of rejection again. He'd mentioned Harry a lot in the letter...and Harry found he was even slightly flattered by it.

He wasn't quite sure what he was thinking when he reached for the spiral and his quill to write a response, but it certainly wasn't about what the bad effects of a friendship with Draco Malfoy could be. The blonde was proving to be a very interesting person underneath the cold and hateful mask he always wore, and Harry could definitely see a friendship between them...if...

_Dear Malfoy,_

_It's hard to admit this, but I'm...sorry, I suppose, that I rejected your friendship in first year. To be honest, I did think about accepting it, but I was still pissed off about you making fun of Ron, who was the first real friend I ever had._

_So if you really want it, I'll accept it now, but we'll have to keep it a secret since the whole school thinks we're bitter enemies and it would probably cost me my friendship with Ron. I won't accept you making fun of Ron and Hermione either._

_And don't worry, I'm not going to leave any of these letters lying around at school. That would probably lose me my friendship with Ron also; he'd think I was betraying him by writing to you in anything more than a hateful manner._

_Harry Potter_

_P.S. Actually, I have been feeding bit a bit while he's been here, but it's been the same things I would feed my own owl. You'll have to excuse me if I don't have an owl treats, though, considering the Muggles._

_I can't use Hedwig until school starts; I was taking a huge risk that first time. Also, if you could manage it so that Thiassi get here during the night sometime, that'd really help. I'll probably be locked under the stairs if my aunt or uncle sees any owls flying from my window, and then you'd be bored again, wouldn't you?_

No, he really had no idea what he was thinking, and again he had to wonder whether he wanted to send the letter at all. But when he really thought about it, he did want to be friends with the Slytherin, and it wasn't like they'd stop being rivals by being friends. Maybe they'd just hang out a little more and not be so rude toward each other, which was a distinct possibility by the way their letters had been going.

Harry was brought out of his thoughts when Thiassi hooted impatiently and he realized he'd been sitting there daydreaming for quite some time after he'd finished the letter. Shaking his head slightly, Harry got up and took the letter to the eagle owl, murmuring a soft apology before sending him out again, hoping Malfoy wouldn't be too freaked by his response.

* * *

This time, it took Malfoy several days to reply; so long, in fact, that Harry was starting to become certain that he'd scared off the blonde with that last letter and Malfoy had never wanted his friendship in the first place. He even started becoming slightly depressed, afraid that his summer was going to return to the way it had been before and he'd just have to corner Malfoy on the school train or something. 

Then, a week after he'd sent the letter, Thiassi appeared at his window around midnight again. Harry scrambled to the window in disbelief, just managing to keep from tipping over his ink well in his haste. His spirits rose when he saw that the owl was indeed Thiassi, though his hopes were soon somewhat dashed when he saw how short a note Malfoy had written.

_Don't kid me, Potter. I don't see why you'd ever consider being friends with me, and it had better not be a pity issue. If you're really telling the truth, reply on this same paper; if you don't really mean it, don't bother writing again._

_Malfoy_

Harry bit his lip slightly; the hatred and disbelief in Malfoy's words was almost palpable. He wasn't sure why he had to reply on the same piece of parchment, though he supposed that Malfoy probably put a charm on it so he'd know if Harry's reply was anything but earnest.

With a soft sigh, Harry found his quill and began writing, though if he were honest to be with himself, he had expected something close to this happening. Malfoy was too stubborn to just accept that Harry might have changed his mind.

_Look, Malfoy, I know you think I hate your guts, which is what I thought of you until you responded to that first letter of mine. But I've decided that it can't be all bad being your friend. You're an interesting person, and it's not like we'd have to stop being rivals by beings friends. If you don't want my friendship anymore, fine, but I'm sure we'll both profit more by being friends._

_Harry Potter_

Harry wordlessly gave the letter back to Thiassi for him to take to Malfoy, afraid that if he opened his mouth, he'd end up making enough noise to wake the Dursleys and get himself into major trouble. Thiassi looked at him curiously for a moment before taking the letter in his beak and flying off again. Harry leaned out the window a bit to watch the owl fly off, a soft frown on his face.

'_Malfoy, you'd better get your head out of your arse and accept my offer this time...Great, now I'm thinking like him. Just what the world needs: _another_ Draco Malfoy.'

* * *

_

Harry woke with a start maybe two hours later to a light pecking on his head. He scowled sleepily and tried to bat away whatever it was–and his hand collided with something small and feathery. He yelped softly and reached out for his glasses so he could see properly; sitting next to his head was Thiassi with a much thicker letter then before tied to his leg.

Harry frowned in confusion as he sat up and reached out to untie the letter; he doubted Malfoy lived so close that an owl could fly there and back in less than two hours. Did that mean the blond had been close to Privet Drive when he'd set off both letters? An image of the Slytherin sitting with his legs crossed on his broom over a brightly lit Muggle street, tapping his fingers impatiently on his arm as he waited for a response formed in Harry's mind and he chuckled softly. The smile only grew bigger when he took out the blonde's letter; it was a proper letter this time, not the simple statement of the last one.

_Dear Potter,_

_I have grudgingly decided to accept your offer of friendship, but only when we're not around anyone else. If any other students are near, I'm still going to act like I despise you._

Harry nodded briefly as he read this; he'd been planning to do that as well. The rest of the letter seemed to be nothing but unimportant things that had been going on in Malfoy's life, but to Harry, it meant a lot to read it. It meant Malfoy meant what he said.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were quite pleasant for Harry. Spurred on by the newly formed truce, both he and Draco (the blonde had started signing his letters like this about a week after the truce was formed) opened up more and after a while, the letters could have been mistaken for those written by two people who had been friends for years. Even the insults started fading from their words. Harry was only further enticed to keep writing, and in that friendly manner, because he knew he was doing something the Dursleys had forbidden right under their noses and they had no clue. His days started to slip into a sort of schedule: wake up and make breakfast, spend the day doing what Aunt Petunia wanted so she wouldn't punish him any more than usual, wait until the Dursleys were asleep so he could work on homework, receive a letter from Draco and write one in return, and then go to bed. 

And then came his birthday.

He was absolutely shocked when he got the presents his friends had sent, and held them in just as much esteem as Draco's letters. It was...surreal, almost, to have his birthday so acknowledged, especially after twelve years of being almost completely ignored. He found he was slightly disappointed that Draco hadn't given him anything before he realized that he'd never told the blond when his birthday was, nor did Draco seem the type to give _him_ anything anyway. They might have formed a truce and even friendship, but that didn't mean Draco would care about his birthday.

* * *

Harry grumbled angrily as he stepped into his bedroom and over to the bed, glaring over at the door when he could still hear Aunt Marge's drunken laughter from downstairs. He noticed Hedwig's absence with a faint tinge of loneliness; she would always comfort him if he came upstairs upset, like she did the morning he wrote down his life's story for Draco– 

_Draco_. Harry groaned softly; he'd almost forgotten that he'd be getting another letter from the other boy tonight, since he hadn't known last night that he'd have to act like a Muggle for a week. As much as he still looked forward to seeing Thiassi again and reading the Slytherin's wry words, getting Uncle Vernon to sign his Hogsmede permission form was extremely important to him. Also, if he were allowed to go to the village, he and Draco could hang out occasionally; this would be much harder to do within the school.

Harry got up to go wait by the window so Thiassi wouldn't have to peck at the window, therefore making noise, to get in. It was lucky he did, too, because almost as soon as he'd opened the window, the eagle owl in question flew inside. Thiassi looked mildly confused when he saw that Hedwig's cage was no longer in the room and finally landed on one of the bedposts instead, looking curiously up at Harry.

"Sorry, Thiassi, this is probably the last time I'll be seeing you for a few days," Harry said as he sat down next to the owl. "I have to act like a Muggle for a week."

Thiassi hooted sympathetically and held his leg out to Harry for him to take the letter, and large package, tied there.

Harry just stared at the package in disbelief for a few moments until a soft hoot from Thiassi got him moving again. Numbly, he untied the letter and package from the owl's leg, noting vaguely that it was a fairly heavy package. The letter proved to actually be a birthday card with an image of a Quidditch game (one that looked suspiciously like a match between their two Houses) with the players darting about as he watched. The inside of the card was not, as he thought it might be, completely covered but a good deal of the right side had text over it.

_Dear Harry,_

_Bet you didn't know I knew when your birthday is, did you? At least, I think I'm right about it being today. It'll be close, anyway._

_I thought you might find part of this present useful this year, and maybe even for your homework during the summer. It's amazing; only a month until holidays are over. It feels like we just got out of school._

_Did you see the news this morning? I can't believe Black escaped; we all thought it was impossible. Father is fuming right now, though I expect it's the same for most people; it's almost frightening to think that Sirius Black is on the loose._

_How are the Muggles treating you? They haven't forced you to wash your own dishes or cut your hair recently, have they? I was forced to have a haircut yesterday; personally, I'd rather have it a little long. Ah well, just four more years until we're adults, eh?_

_Actually hoping you'll enjoy your present, I suppose,_

_Draco_

_P.S. Like the card? I saw it and thought of our Quidditch matches, so I just had to get it for you. I though you'd appreciate it; I know you love Quidditch as much as I do._

Harry wasn't sure what to think when he was done reading and just went on to open his present without really thinking over the card. He peeled off the brown paper to reveal wrapping paper unlike anything he'd seen before; it was bottle green like his eyes with Snitches flying all over it. Harry rather enjoyed the wrapping paper, so he was careful not to damage it too much as he tore it open; three items fell out. One was a box of Honeydukes' chocolate–Harry wasn't at all sure what Honeydukes was at first, but it didn't matter since the chocolate was excellent. The second item was a thin blue book entitled _A Player's Guide to the Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland_. The third item–

"_Potions 101_?" Harry read aloud incredulously. He sighed and shook his head with amusement as he set the book aside. "Thanks, Malfoy. I'm not that bad at Potions."

Harry had to admit though, however grudgingly, as he flipped through the Potions book, that it would be extremely useful when he was writing his essay for Snape. And the book on Quidditch teams looked extremely fascinating. _'Unfortunately,'_ he thought as he put the two books away and pulled out his quill and spiral notebook, _'I just can't enjoy them until next week. I'll miss writing to Draco.'_

He sighed softly as he started writing, popping a piece of chocolate into his mouth occasionally. Eventually, he tied the letter to Thiassi's leg and waved the owl off, watching him go with a slightly sad expression. _'Just six more days...'_

_Dear Draco,_

_Thanks. I really appreciate the book._

_No really; it was a nice thought, and you're right; it's really going to help with that essay. And the other book is awesome; it's going to be falling apart by the end of the year._

_By the way, how the hell do you know my birthday!_

_Anyway, I hate to tell you this, but we can't write to each other for at least a week. My uncle's sister is here for a week and the only way I'll be able to go to Hogsmede this year is if I act like a Muggle while she's here. That means no late night homework sessions and no owl post. I'm sorry, and I really hate this, but it's what I have to do._

_I'll write to you with Hedwig when it's safe to start up again._

_I'll miss writing to you,_

_Harry_

_P.S. That is such an awesome card! I'm definitely keeping it out, no matter how Mugglish I'm suppose to be acting.

* * *

_

_Dear Draco,_

_The coast is clear! We can write each other again, and you'll never believe what happened to make it possible!_

_I blew up my aunt...sort of. She was putting down my parents, so I lost control of my magic, and all of a sudden, she was inflating like a balloon and floating near the ceiling. It's hilarious now that I look back on it. I didn't even get expelled! I met the Minister of Magic too!_

_I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron now until it's time to go to King's Cross to catch the train, and I can explore Diagon as much as I want. Maybe we can meet up sometime before most of the other students show up?_

_Oh, and I can use Hedwig now, so we can give Thiassi a break if you like._

_Eagerly awaiting your letter,_

_Harry_

_P.S. One bad thing to note: I can't go to Hogsmede this year. My uncle didn't sign the permission form, and I couldn't persuade Minister Fudge to sign it either. You'll just have to tell me about it when you go.

* * *

_

_Dear Harry,_

_Did you really blow up your aunt? That's so brilliant! I wish I could blow up a couple of my relatives, but father would probably kill me if I did._

_I'm going to be fairly busy for a week or so, so I can't come to Diagon anytime soon. I'll probably be there next week sometime. How about I come find you and we can hang out for the day. It'll save you the trouble of wasting time you could be using for homework (which I'm sure you desperately need)._

_I can't wait to see more of your owl; she really is quite beautiful._

_Keep writing; it takes my mind off of how boring father's friends are,_

_Draco_

_P.S. What do you mean you're not allowed to come to Hogsmede! Can't you...wait never mind; I expect the teachers have put charms on the forms so you can't forge a signature. I'll figure something out for you; you have to be allowed to come. Even you–no, especially you–should have the experience. Maybe you could talk to McGonagall and explain what happened? She is your head of House; I know Prof. Snape would make an exception for any of us.

* * *

_

Harry sighed softly as he flipped through _Potions 101_, faintly annoyed that he was actually using the book, but he'd certainly rather suck up his pride than get a weeks worth of detentions when he got back to school. He would have to thank Draco in person later; the book was actually extremely useful. He smiled faintly as he found the passage he was looking for and read over it, pausing every so often to add a couple of sentences to his essay.

"Good to see my gift is being put to use after all."

Harry started violently, nearly overturning his inkwell onto his new book and essay; only a pale hand reaching down to grasp his own stopped his hand from drawing a long line on the parchment. He glared back at the now laughing figure behind him as soon as he'd calmed a bit, trying not to blush because his hand was still being held.

"Malfoy!" he exclaimed indignantly. "Don't sneak up on me like that! You could've messed up my essay!"

"Oops, sorry," Draco said as he moved away from Harry to sit opposite him; he didn't sound at all sincere.

"I'm sure," Harry grumbled, annoyed.

Draco just smirked and picked up Harry's essay, look it over as he asked, "How have you been? The Muggles didn't do anything to you while you couldn't write, did they?"

"Not my aunt and uncle, no. Aunt Marge, though..." Harry trailed off suggestively as he started gathering up his things. When Draco didn't answer, he looked up at the other boy and nearly laughed at the expression on his pale face. Draco had on a rather uncharacteristic grimace and he winced every so often as he read. Harry wasn't sure whether he really should laugh or just be offended.

"Merlin, you really suck at Potions, don't you?" the blond commented sourly when he felt Harry's eyes on him. "I mean, I knew you were bad–that's why I gave you that book–but _this_ bad...?"

"Come off it, Draco," Harry muttered as he snatched his essay back and rolled it up. He sent a mild glare at the other boy as he stood up, which the Slytherin didn't seem to notice, and gathered his books into one pile so they'd be easier to carry. "I have to put my stuff up in my room. Are you going to wait here or come with me?"

Draco waved him off with a lazy hand, already looking off somewhere else to see if a waiter was around. "I'll wait here. You'd better hurry; I'm going to order us ice cream, but I'll eat yours if you take too long."

Harry laughed softly and dashed off so he wouldn't have to find out whether the blond would go through with his threat, nearly running into someone as he went. He never noticed the pair of silver eyes that had returned their gaze to him as he left.

* * *

When Harry returned, Draco was already halfway through a sundae he seemed to be greatly enjoying and another was waiting patiently for the brunet at his seat. He grinned and plopped down onto the bench, digging into his ice cream with zeal. After a couple minutes, though, he got the distinct feeling he was being watched and looked up only to look gazes with a pair of pale eyes across the table. 

"What?" he asked uneasily, unsure exactly why Malfoy was watching him like that.

Draco just smirked and returned to his ice cream, murmuring a soft, "It's nothing."

Harry gazed at him suspiciously, the fact that this was _Draco Malfoy_ finally hitting him. It was odd; he really didn't act like the Draco Malfoy he'd come to know and love at Hogwarts, and he was ever more convinced that this was the real one and the one at school was just a mask he put on for others. He had a few doubts though; what if it was the other way around and this was the mask, the masquerade, and he was only pretending to be Harry's friend because his father had told him to so the brunet would grow to trust him before being killed mercilessly.

Draco really didn't seem the type to do something like that, however, not matter what he acted like most of the time, nor did he look like it either. His white-blond hair was long enough now that it hung in front of his eyes a bit and was tucked behind his ears on the sides and yet was still fairly neat, unlike Harry's unruly locks. Draco's skin was extremely pale, even more so than before the summer it seemed, like he had never spent any time in the sun, but because it was so pale, his skin seemed to glow a bit in the sun light. He also held himself rather straight-backed and stiff even while eating, something Harry had noticed at school; a stance that clearly proclaimed, 'I'm rich and I'm a pureblood; you should be bowing at my feet.' He couldn't see the blonde's pale eyes now, since they were looking at the bowl on ice cream, but Harry had seem earlier that they were silvery gray, deeper than at the end of term, and seemed to have golden sparkles throughout the iris; and they were still as unreadable as ever when Draco wanted it, but incredibly expressive when that was needed.

"Now _you_'re staring at _me_."

Harry jumped and looked away with a light flush at Draco voice, slightly embarrassed that he'd been caught staring like he had been. He could tell the Slytherin was probably laughing silently at him, and that thought only made him blush worse than before.

"_Now_ what are you thinking about?"

Harry looked up again at the tone Draco had used, both playful and condescending at once. Draco had a pale eyebrow raised in expectation of an answer, his eyes sparkling maliciously.

"N-nothing," Harry answered, mentally berating himself for stuttering. Draco's face broke into an impish grin and he leaned slightly across the table so only Harry would hear what he said.

"You know, Harry, if you really wanted _that_, you could have told me ages ago. I would have come and saved you from your relatives."

Harry blushed slightly merely at how the words had been said, eyeing Draco with confusion since he really had no idea what the other boy meant. Draco just gave him a cryptic smirk and pushed his empty bowl away, his demeanor instantly changing to his usual, bored look.

"Come on, Harry, hurry up," he ordered, sounding very much like Hogwarts-Draco. "I want to look around before nightfall."

The brunet rolled his eyes but began eating faster anyway.

* * *

"Hey, did you see the Firebolt?" Draco asked a bit later as they walked slowly through the busy street. 

Harry smirked at him, his eyes plainly showing that he thought Draco was an idiot to ask. "Of course. Wanna go look at it again? I haven't gone to look today yet."

"Do you even have to ask?" Draco answered with a return grin. They looked at each other in a moment of complete understanding before dashing off down the street toward the Quidditch shop.

* * *

"She's so beautiful," Draco murmured breathily as he and Harry stood before the podium that held the shiny Firebolt, Harry almost pressed up against the invisible barrier that kept them about a metere away. 

"Why don't you just buy it?" Harry asked, sounding both curious and faintly annoyed. "You're rich; you could." Of course, he had his own money and probably could buy the magnificent broom if he chose, but then he would probably be a poor as the Weasleys.

Draco snorted softly; obviously he thought this as well. "Do you have any idea how much it costs? It's nearly as much as all of the brooms my father bought the Slytherin team last year combined. My father would never let me buy it while I still have a perfectly good broom. I wish I could buy it though..."

"I know; me too." Harry smiled back at him, wondering faintly if it was this easy for them to get along why they hadn't done it ages ago. Then he remembered that that was mostly his fault and stood up straighter, hardly noticing the expression on Draco's face when the blond looked over at him.

"Draco," Harry said softly, a soft frown on his face. "Why _did_ you accept my friendship?" This had been bugging Harry since it had happened, but he hadn't risked asking before now in case Draco decided to change his mind about their new alliance.

The blond was silent for a while, until Harry thought he might have to repeat himself, but he finally asked in return, "Why did you offer it?"

This time it was Harry's turn to be silent as he thought, but when he did respond, he was being truthful. "When I read your letter about what your life was like, it seemed like the worst thing that had happened to you was my turning down your friendship–"

"So it was pity," Draco stated darkly, his arms crosses in front of his chest. Harry blinked, realizing he'd made a bit of a mistake, and held his hands up in a defensive pose.

"No, no, you didn't let me finish. I was going to say, it made me feel really bad that I'd hurt you like that; I hate it when people hurt because of me. So I thought that if I offered you that friendship again, you wouldn't be hurting so much because of me anymore." Harry blushed lightly as he spoke and added hastily, "Of course, you're a really interesting person to talk to, so I would have asked eventually anyway. I liked writing to you, and it didn't really seem like you hated me all that much, even at the beginning."

He glanced nervously at Draco, who had turned away to look at the expensive broom again. The blond Slytherin had a slight frown on his face, as though he wasn't sure what to do about the situation. Harry sighed softly and looked away himself, not wanting to be caught staring again. He was sure he'd just messed things up between them again, and they'd been having such a good time with each other, too.

"I never really hated you."

Harry looked up in surprise when he heard the drawling voice, but Draco hadn't looked over. Instead, he seemed to speak to the broom as he continued, "But you're right; it did hurt when you rejected my hand. I knew why you did it, and I knew it was my fault, but it still hurt. And I just took that out on you, even though some of those times I provoked you, I had really wanted to ask again. So I never really hated you; I just made myself, and everyone else, think I did."

He slowly turned his gaze on the brunet, and Harry saw that his eyes were a very pretty, clear silver, very unlike anything he'd seen before. Draco suddenly smirked and turned away from the broom, and Harry, completely, heading for the door.

"Come on, Potter, we need to go buy you some owl treats."

Harry groaned softly and ran a hand though his hair in frustration before dashing after him; why couldn't Draco just stick with _one_ mood?

* * *

Draco groaned with boredom as he watched Harry hurry to finish the Potions essay, though his eyes were trained on the bit of tongue sticking out of the side of the brunet's mouth as he tried to think of something clever to write. That seemed to be a habit the brunet boy had; Draco had seen him do it countless times in Potions when he couldn't figure something out. It matched Harry's personality rather well, now that he thought about it. He wondered vaguely if Harry even did it during Quidditch matches; that would be an interesting thing to see. 

"Hey, Draco?"

Harry's voice snapped him back to reality and he almost blushed when he realized he'd been staring. He didn't though, because Malfoys did not blush, but he did look away quickly from Harry's face only to see that the essay was nowhere in sight.

"Finished it, then?" he asked coolly, referring to the missing piece of parchment. Harry gained an odd look on his face, telling him that maybe he'd said the wrong thing.

"Uh, yeah, I told you that ten minutes ago, before I went and put my books back in my room," the brunet said slowly. "Are you okay?"

Draco frowned at him, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Of course I'm okay? What would make you think otherwise?"

"Well, you didn't answer when I was talking to you or move while I was gone. And you were staring at me again."

Draco paled a little at this; yes, he _had_ been staring...again. And this was the third time he'd been caught in five days. He'd been staring at Harry a lot lately and he wasn't at all sure why, so he was really starting to hate himself for not being able to stop. He'd usually stop himself before he got caught, and yell at himself afterward, but even so, he just started staring again later. He didn't know why he couldn't stop, but it was really starting to annoy him.

"Maybe I was just so bored waiting for you to finish, I fell asleep with my eyes open. Did you think of that?" Draco snapped back, though he was more irritated at himself than at Harry. Harry recoiled slightly and looked away, and Draco was instantly a bit sorry, but he couldn't take it back now. After a moment, Harry sighed and stood up, placing a Galleon down on the table as a tip; neither of them actually needed to pay for their ice cream–Harry because of who he was, and Draco because he was with Harry.

"Let's go look around for a bit," Harry said, running his fingers through his dark hair; Draco had noticed he did that a lot, too.

"That essay was the last of your homework, wasn't it?" Draco asked as he too stood up, not leaving a tip himself since Malfoys did not leave tips.

"Yeah," Harry answered with a relieved smile. "Now we have five days of freedom without homework or teachers or–"

"Other students?" Draco interrupted with a smirk. Harry blushed lightly and shrugged.

"Yeah, them."

"You know other students are going to start showing up," Draco went on as they started walking. "I've already seen a few of your Gryffindor friends walking around buying school supplies."

Harry sighed heavily, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, so have I. I wish they wouldn't though; it puts us at risk of being seen together."

"And you so wish you could be alone with me, don't you Potter?"

"Ah…maybe not…_alone_ alone. But without anyone that goes to Hogwarts maybe."

Draco chuckled softly at the blush that was suddenly covering Harry's cheeks but forced himself to look away when he caught himself starting to stare again. Yes, just five more days until they had to head for the school train, and the Mudblood and the Weasel would be arriving in Diagon any day now, stealing away all of Harry's attention. And then at school they would hardly be able to see each other at all, because of the curfew and their reputations. For a few days however, they could pretend that they had always been friends; for a few days, they could ignore the rest of the world.

"Hey Harry," Draco began as his legs stopped and he turned to the brunet. "Could we have a…sleepover tonight? Is that what that's called?"

Harry looked at him with surprise, cocking his head slightly. "You mean when one person stays the night at his friend's house and they stay up and talk and things like that?"

"Yes, exactly."

"You want to have a sleepover with me?"

Draco sighed heavily, looking faintly annoyed. "Yes, Potter, I want to have a sleepover with you. Is that so hard to understand? We'll be able to spend more time together before school starts that way."

"I've never been part of a sleepover before," Harry said with a slightly dazed voice, his eyes trained on Draco's shoes.

"Neither have I; it'll be an experience for both of us, won't it?"

Harry smiled and looked up at Draco with clear green eyes that were sparkling with happiness. "Yeah, let's have one. We can stay up all night."

Draco grinned, though he wasn't quite meeting Harry's eyes. "Excellent. But you know, we'll have to have ice cream brought up to us occasionally. This is, after all, a historical moment."

"Yeah, who would possibly imagine Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy having a friendly sleepover?" Harry said with a laugh as they started walking again. "We might be able to get Mr. Fortescue to agree, but he'll probably charge us, and you'd have to pay."

"Hey! Why me?"

"Because it was your idea."

"But he gives you _free_ ice cream," Draco protested, his voice soft so no one would overhear. "Why would we have to pay at all?"

Harry gave the blond a slightly reproachful look that showed he thought Draco was being stupid again. "Well, I know that if I were asked to deliver ice cream to a couple boys in the middle of the night, I would charge for it, even if it was for 'the Boy Who Lived'."

Draco sighed dramatically if just for affect; he really did agree with Harry and wasn't actually all that averse to paying if it would get them ice cream in the middle of the night. "Fine, I'll pay. But we have to go ask him now," he conceded, grabbing Harry's arm the steer him around the other way.

Harry laughed again as he let himself be led. "All right."

* * *

Draco sighed softly as he looked over at the sleeping face so near his own. Draco had flat out refused to sleep on the floor, and he wouldn't let Harry either, for some reason or another, so they'd decided–or rather, Draco had threatened to leave if Harry didn't let it happen–that since there was only one bed, they would both have to sleep in it. The blond really didn't mind it so much now; Harry had fallen asleep around three, but he himself was still wide awake and he could stare at the brunet as much as he liked now. 

Draco let out a soft sigh and rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, though he didn't really see it. It was...well, _wonderful_, to be Harry's friend. He'd been envious of the Mudblood and Weasel for a rather good reason. He very much wished that school would never come and he could hang out with Harry every day in Diagon, and have sleepovers and free ice cream and not have to worry about how his reputation would be ruined and how angry his father would be. But that just wasn't life, and he only had these couple of days before they had to fight with one another again.

With another sign, Draco rolled over again so he was facing out into the room and close his eyes, planning to fall asleep. He would just have to make sure the few days the spent together now were as great as this one.


	2. Part I Ch II The First Tests

Calai'di: Wow! No one asked how Draco knew Harry's birthday! I'm amazed!

Thank you for all the lovely reviews! It's so much fun reading them, and there were a couple very good ideas. I'm afraid you'll have to wait to see Ron and Hermione's reactions to Harry and Draco's 'friendship'; that can't happen until seventh year, sorry.

Although...I am toying with an idea that'll have a scene like that sooner and still have work with the books. -shrugs- we'll just have to see.

Note: I've just realized that this entire story works really well with almost every song on Linkin' Park's _Hybrid Theory_ album. Especially "With You" and "Place for My Head." Those two songs are perfect for this fic and for Harry anyway.

Disclaimer: Well, in this chap, and the ones following it, I have actual text straight from the books. I claim no ownership over this text and am just using it to further the story. Nor do I think her writing was boring and without detail; the detail I've put in was needed for the fic. Harry Potter and all its characters are J.K. Rowling's, not mine (although I would gladly take Draco off her hands)

* * *

Background Secrets

Part I: Third Year

Chapter II: The First Tests

Harry let out a soft sigh as he gazed out the window of the school train at the passing scenery, his mind back in Diagon and the last few days, far from the Hogwarts Express. The last five days seemed extremely surreal now that he was on the school train with Ron and Hermione, who were currently having another argument over Crookshanks. He could only imagine how either of them would react if he told them how he'd spent his time in Diagon, but he would never say a thing to them about it for fear of losing their friendship once and for all. And he wasn't even certain of whether what had happened would last.

He and Draco had had three sleepovers in a row and had spent four days in each other's company. Draco had finally been summoned back home by his father on the fourth night, and hadn't been allowed to return to Diagon, but that had actually been quite lucky because otherwise, they probably would have been together when Ron and Hermione had found him. Those four days had been some of the best he'd had all summer, as had most of the week and a half Draco had been with him in Diagon. Harry would never admit it to anyone but himself, but he'd had more fun with Draco than he'd ever had with Ron or Hermione, and he was beginning to wonder why. Maybe it was because Draco had never been afraid of hurting Harry's feelings by flaunting his knowledge of the wizarding world and had therefore shown Harry everything he could about Diagon Alley...and Knockturn Alley as well.

Harry always seemed to be the first one to fall asleep but also to first one to wake up in the morning, by a considerable margin as well, so he had plenty of time to dress and/or stare at Draco while the blonde was asleep. Draco had no idea he did this, though. On the second full day (after Draco's suggestion of a sleepover), the blond had taken him to every shop in Diagon, even the least important ones, and they had played several inventive tricks on a few of the meaner shopkeepers. They managed not to get caught, but Harry was a little worried that more than one of the managers had figured out what happened and that he and Draco would no longer be welcome there.

During the third day, Draco had taken Harry on a thorough tour of Knockturn Alley. He'd had to rearrange Harry's hair so his scar was covered before they could go, but once in the Alley, they never got a second glance. It was a very new experience for Harry, who had been leered at several times when he'd accidentally ended up in the Alley the previous year and had been a legend of the wizard world and, therefore, stared at just for existing. And the end of the day, though, he was extremely glad for the experience since he was sure he knew Knockturn Alley as well as Draco and he'd been glad to be in a place of wizards where he wasn't constantly stared at or whispered about behind his back.

The fourth day proved to be relatively boring, in contrast to that night. Draco had received a letter from his father during breakfast that ordered him to be back home within twenty-four hours. This, naturally, had made the blonde rather bad tempered for several hours until he'd thought of something they could do as a 'last day' event.

**Flashback**

"_We're doing...what?" Harry asked, sounding incredulous and confused, when Draco made his announcement._

"_We're going clubbing tonight," Draco repeated with a triumphant smirk. "I know of a couple places in Knockturn Alley that would let us in even with as young as we are."_

"_Uh...why?"_

_Draco fixed Harry with a look that said he was crazy to be arguing. "Because I have to go back home before tomorrow, so we won't have anymore time to hang out before school starts, and we should do something worthwhile while I'm still around."_

_Harry sighed softly and sat down on his bed, his chin cupped in his hand as he gave the blond an exasperated look. "What makes you think I know how to dance, Draco? At all?"_

"_You're a wizard; all wizards know how to dance at least a little," Draco replied firmly; Harry already could tell looking at his silver eyes that he hadn't expected this development._

"_I've never been dancing of any kind," Harry said with a shrug, hoping that maybe Draco would be persuaded into changing his mind because of this. "Why would the Dursleys have any reason to take me?"_

_Draco was silent for a moment before he smirked again and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Seems like you need to learn then. This would be the perfect opportunity for me to teach you."_

_Harry groaned and glanced once up at the ceiling, sure now that there was no way he could get out of this new 'fieldtrip.' However, he wasn't almost put into Slytherin for nothing, so he quickly thought of something that he doubted Draco would ever do, no matter how much he wanted to go clubbing._

"_I'm not going," he started, looking out the window in a mockingly bored way, "unless you wear _Muggle_ clothes and let me wear them too."_

_Harry could almost see Draco's mouth fall open in disbelief even though he wasn't looking at the blond._

"_You...want me to do _what_?" Draco demanded, trying to sound angry, though it came out almost half strangled. Harry had to bite back a laugh as he deliberately turned his head back to the Slytherin, a smirk playing at his lips._

"_I said 'I'm not going unless you wear Muggle clothes'," Harry repeated patently. "That means no robes. You have to wear pants and a shirt like I do most of the time. That is...unless you think you can't do it..."_

_Draco's eyes narrowed at those words, and Harry had to fight back a stupid grin; he knew very well that the blond would never turn down a challenge, especially one worded like that. He himself had the problem of not actually owning suitable clothes for clubbing, but Draco knew that too and would probably get him something if just to preserve his own image._

"_We'll look foolish," Draco protested as he tried to find something wrong with Harry's demands._

"_Draco, I'll be with you, and you're a Malfoy. No one would dare say anything."_

"_I don't know a thing about Muggle money or shops."_

"_I can teach you about those before you leave. You'll have to go alone, but I'm sure you can handle it."_

_Draco's eyes widened a bit at this. "You're not coming with me?"_

"_I can't; I promised Fudge I wouldn't go into Muggle London. But I can teach you everything about it first; I know you're not stupid, so I'm sure you'll catch on. You just need to go to Gringotts and exchange about–" Harry thought for a moment– "sixty-three Galleons into Muggle money, and I'll show you how to use it."_

_The blond Slytherin glared at him for a moment before turning snobbishly away towards the door. "Fine. But you're coming dancing with me tonight, and we're going to stay out until you fall asleep on your feet."_

_Harry just nodded as the door was practically slammed shut behind Draco, and then grinned at how well his plan had worked. He didn't doubt that Draco would be able to go through with the conditions, and seeing Draco in Muggle clothing was something he was very much looking forward to.

* * *

_

_The sun was already setting when Harry's door opened to reveal a mildly pleased Draco, back from his shopping excursion into Muggle London. He'd left about four hours before (at least) after Harry explained everything he could about the British currency and how to act when among Muggles. Harry had fallen asleep waiting, which Draco was rather displeased to see, and had the Quidditch book he'd gotten from the blond for his birthday. The Slytherin paused in the doorway when he saw this, shamelessly looking over the brunet for a moment, before he strode over to his and tried to shake him awake–to which he was met with a protesting whine._

"_Come on, Potter, wake up," Draco ordered, forcing irritation into his voice. Harry whined again but did open his eyes...and gasped._

_Draco had worn the clothes he'd bought home, but by the shopping bag he held, they obviously weren't the only one's he'd bought. And he looked...amazing in what he was wearing; his Malfoy sense of fashion apparently didn't only work with wizard robes. He'd picked fairly form fitting black pants made from some fabric that seemed to absorb all light and was sewn in thick silver thread. The top was sewn in the same thread but was Slytherin green; the torso was form-fitting and absorbed light the way the pants did, but the sleeves were belled like those of a wizard's robe and sparkled with silver flecks._

_Draco smirked when he noticed the Harry had been staring since his eyes had opened, and only made it worse by turning a bit to show off._

"_Well, I guess this means we're going," he commented when Harry's eyes followed the movement. The brunet blinked and shook his head to shake off the daze he'd been in before slowly getting up._

"_You'd better do a good job teaching me to dance," Harry warned as he headed toward his trunk to find something even a bit suitable. Almost before he'd taken a step, though, the shopping bag was pressed into his hands and he had to keep from grinning; Draco had done just what he'd thought he'd do._

"_Oh no," Draco scolded, casting a reproachful glance at Harry's trunk. "I've seen the sort of thing you usually wear, and if you honestly think I'm going to let you wear anything like that, you're stupider than I thought. I bought you proper clothes while I was out, and you'd better wear them so my money isn't wasted."_

"_Why, thank you, Draco," Harry said with a smile as he briefly looked through the bag; he even had shoes in there._

_Draco snorted softly and sat down on the bed, his gaze out the window. "Go take a shower and get dressed. I want to leave before seven."_

**End Flashback**

Harry smiled slightly as he remembered that night. He'd half expected the clothes Draco had found for him to be mediocre and merely serviceable, but they were almost identical to the Slytherin's except the shirt was a deep red and the thread was gold. When he asked why their clothes were in their House colours, Draco just smirked and replied,

"Why not? Afraid to go dancing with a Slytherin?"

Harry had glared at him in response and silently followed him out the door, wondering if the blond had been serious about staying out until he fell asleep on his feet.

He had been.

Harry had actually caught on with the whole 'rave' thing rather quickly, though his movements still weren't nearly as smooth as Draco's, who had a lifetime of practice on his side. He enjoyed it, though, and Draco said that was what really mattered. It was around midnight that he began to feel tired, but his partner showed no signs of fatigue. About an hour later, Harry had fallen asleep on his feet and collapsed right into Draco's arms.

He'd woken the next morning in his room at the inn with Draco gone, though he'd expected that. He also had breakfast waiting for him on the dresser nearby with a short, insignificant note from the blond that found its way into his growing collection of letters and notes. And later that day was when he'd met up with Ron and Hermione.

Now that he was on the school train, Harry had to wonder whether he and Draco really were going to stay friends, whether everything the Malfoy had done for him had just been an act. When he thought about it, he really couldn't believe that Draco would have spent all that time with him if it had meant nothing, and the letters he had seemed to prove that he wanted to be friends as much as Harry did. He wouldn't have bought those clothes, either.

He'd just re-remembered the clothes that were now in the bottom of his trunk with the letters when rain started falling rather heavily outside the window–and the compartment door slid open to reveal three students: Draco, and his two cronies Crabbe and Goyle (both of whom he really hated to see).

"Well, look who it is; Potty and the Weasel," Draco drawled with a faint smirk, causing his companions to chuckle cruelly. Malfoy's eyes flickered briefly over Harry, though too fast for the brunet to see their colour, before fixing maliciously on Ron. "I heard you father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"

Ron stood so fast Harry hardly had time to react and Crookshanks' basket was pushed to the floor. Professor Lupin, whom they were sharing the compartment with and was currently asleep, gave a soft snort at the noise.

Malfoy took a step backward when he noticed the Lupin, his eyes glancing over at Harry again. "Who's that?"

Harry got to his feet as calmly as possible, trying to make it look like he was getting ready to hold Ron back if it was needed, but he really just couldn't stay sitting anymore. Malfoy's eyes were that same dull grey they'd always been at Hogwarts, which Harry knew now was definitely part of his mask of hatred and was not really him. They briefly turned that clear silver Harry had only seen twice before dulling again–but that was all the assurance he needed. Nothing had changed between them since two days ago.

"New teacher," Harry said as he stepped forward a bit, his head tilting down, and then up, very slightly so Ron and Hermione wouldn't notice. Draco did notice, though, which was what he'd wanted, and the blond mimicked the gesture, giving Harry the assurance he needed to keep talking so spitefully. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"

Malfoy's eyes narrowed as he glanced at Lupin again before he turned away, muttering a resentful sounding, "C'mon," to get Crabbe and Goyle to follow him back to their own compartment.

Harry sighed inaudibly as he and Ron sat down again, choosing to fall silent and block out what his Gryffindor friends were talking about so he wouldn't have to pretend to hate Draco any more. It just felt...odd now.

* * *

Harry ignored Draco rather well that night and the next morning, mostly because it hurt a bit to see how easily the blond could revert back to their old squabbles. Draco seemed to really want his attention, though, more than in the last two years, it seemed, and he'd grown very good at managing to annoy Harry even when he was being ignored. And Harry surprised himself by not taking the bait. 

His plan, of course, began failing quite steadily on just the first day of school.

He had Care of Magical Creatures, now taught by Hagrid since the old teacher had retired, that afternoon and of course they had the lesson with the Slytherins. It was likely a 'playful' trick some teacher had come up with to make school life more interesting since the two Houses only shared one class otherwise: Potions and that class couldn't be watched out the windows of other classrooms. But other than the Slytherins being there, the lesson was promising. Hagrid had decided to start out the term with hippogriffs, which were rather nice if they weren't insulted at all. Harry had already been the success of the class, as he'd (half-heartedly) volunteered to be the first to approach them and then had been allowed (almost by force) to ride one of them. Since he hadn't been injured or killed, the rest of the class was much more willing to approach the animals.

Draco and his pet trolls, Crabbe and Goyle, had taken over the hippogriff that had had ridden, who's name was Buckbeak, and the blond was calmly petting his beak as though he'd done his whole life, though he didn't look happy about, while Crabbe and Goyle stayed a bit of a distance away. Buckbeak hadn't bowed to either of them.

"This is very easy."

Harry almost groaned as Malfoy's voice suddenly drifted across the paddock, pointedly loud enough for him to be heard. But Harry just did what he'd been doing last night and this morning; listened, but made sure it didn't bother him.

"I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it," Malfoy went on, clearly enjoying that he had over half the class's attention already. "I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" He was speaking to the hippogriff now, who looked like he was trying to ignore him as well. But Malfoy pressed on still. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

Harry's head shot up from where he'd been staring at the grass, knowing immediately what might happen, but he was too far away to do anything to help. In an instant, the hippogriff reared up and took a furious swipe at Draco, who had been backing away a bit. Draco screamed and fell to the ground, one hand clutching at his arm, trying to stop the blood that was gushing through his fingers. Hagrid ran over to restrain Buckbeak a second later while most of the class hurried over too to see what had happened.

"I'm dying!" the blond cried, looking truly scared; far more than Harry had ever seen him be, though he was hiding it well. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

"Yer not dyin'!" exclaimed a rather white Hagrid as he leaned down to pick Draco up. "Someone help me –– gotta get him outta here ––"

Hermione went to hold open the gate for Hagrid, who probably would have just run through the fence if she hadn't. As they passed Harry, Draco caught his gaze for a moment. His eyes were silver again, and Harry could clearly see the pain and terror they held right then. The silver almost immediately dulled to grey again, but it was all he needed to see; Draco, it seemed, simply loved to catch him off his guard, even at times like this.

Harry followed the remnants of the class in a bit of a dazed state. He knew Draco would probably be fine; Madam Pomfrey was very good at her job. She was the one who had regrown all of the bones in his right arm the previous year; she could easily heal the slash on Malfoy's arm, and she probably even had a potion that could replenish the blood he'd lost. Harry had no doubts that Draco would be fixed in time for breakfast tomorrow, but he had a feeling Hagrid could get into a lot of trouble for this, even if it was an accident.

He was really only half there when Hermione wondered aloud whether Draco would be okay, and briefly responded that of course he would be, they had Madam Pomfrey, of course. He was mostly silent about the subject from then on, except for when they went done to see Hagrid. There was no reason to worry, of course; Draco would be fine.

He hated that a small voice in the back of his mind added a soft "hopefully" to the end of that.

* * *

Harry walked into the Great Hall the next morning with Ron fully expecting to see Malfoy telling some elaborate and extraordinarily false tale of what had happened that would likely have something to do with making Hagrid look stupid. He was surprised, then, when the only people sitting at that spot at the Slytherin table were Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson, all of whom had looks of worry on their faces. 

"Malfoy's not here, then?" Ron said when looked over to see what Harry was staring at. "Excellent; maybe he'll miss out on lunch and dinner, too."

Harry almost scowled at him, but he caught himself first and slid into the seat next to Hermione, who had probably been in the Hall at least a half an hour before.

"Double Charms and double Herbology," she said as they sat down. Harry just shrugged as he started piling sausages on his plate; he had better things to worry about. Like how hurt Draco might be.

For the rest of the day, Harry had a soft frown on his face as he pondered the reason as to why Draco was absent. The blonde hadn't shown up for lunch, nor had they seen any sign of him in the halls during passing, and by dinner, Harry was quite worried. It was odd, he reflected, that _he_ was worried about _Draco Malfoy_, but he couldn't help it; Draco was his friend and he worried for his friends. That's what a friend was for, after all, although he doubted Draco would worry for him ever.

"What do you think's wrong with Malfoy?" he wondered aloud about halfway through dinner. Ron hurriedly swallowed to answer, but Hermione got to it first.

"It's odd, isn't it, that he'd miss out on a whole day of classes," she said, glancing back at the Slytherin table. "He wouldn't do it normally."

Ron choked slightly at this. "How do _you_ know Malfoy's studying habits?"

"He's often in the library whenever I go there to study. And he's third in our class in grades; I over heard Snape saying so at the end of last year."

"He's probably just doing what Harry said last night; milking this for all it's worth," Ron said with a shrug as he looked over the rest of the food.

"Probably. He's probably going to blame Hagrid for it all, too." Harry glanced over at the other House table with a frown. "I bet that's just what he'd do."

"I wouldn't worry, Harry. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let it go that far." Hermione smiled at him before turning back to the book she'd been reading under the table.

"Yeah, I hope."

Harry just grew more restless as the night wore on, though. He couldn't help thinking about the expression he'd seen in Draco's eyes yesterday; the blonde had looked so frightened and helpless in those few moments, he almost seemed a different person, but one that Harry was used to. That just increased his restlessness, though. He was getting almost as worried as he would if it had been Ron or Hermione that had been hurt.

Around seven thirty, he just couldn't concentrate on his homework anymore, and he gathered up his books to put away in his dormitory.

"What are you doing, Harry?" Hermione asked when she noticed this; she practically had twice as much homework as he or Ron had and would never think of stopping.

"I just can't concentrate anymore," Harry answered as he stood up. "Haven't quite adjusted to school life again yet, you know? I fancied a bit of a walk."

Hermione look at him with a faint frown before looking away back at her own books. "If I find out you've left the school at all..."

"I won't, don't worry." Harry flashed a grin at both his Gryffindor friends before dashing up the stairs to the boy's dorms. A minute later he came back down again and was out the portrait hole a moment later before anyone could wonder where he was going.

Harry wasn't actually sure where he was going, as he was just letting his feet lead him where they wanted, until he was halfway there and he recognized he was in one of the corridors that led to the hospital wing. He almost stopped and turned back, but finally decided to keep going see for himself how Draco was doing. It wouldn't be curfew for almost another hour, and he really was worried. But if someone other than Draco and Madam Pomfrey was there, he would turn back without a second's thought.

Harry carefully pushed open one of the tall wooden doors of the hospital wing and poked his head in to look around. He couldn't see anyone, but the hangings around one of the beds were closed; Harry was sure that was where Draco would be. He silently slid through the doors into the room and made sure they closed just as quietly before he looked around again, for Madam Pomfrey this time. He didn't really relish having her in the room while he visited Draco. Madam Pomfrey seemed to be busy elsewhere, though, and breathed a soft sigh of relief as he headed over to hidden bed. But just as he reached to open the hangings, they flew open on their own to reveal a grinning Malfoy with a Potions book in his lap.

"Hey Harry," he greeted, the grin softening a bit to his customary smirk. "What's it been, three days? Did you really miss me that much?"

"Shut it, Draco," Harry said with a weak glare, though there was a smirk of his own threatening to get through. "I've come all the way from Gryffindor Tower to see how you were doing and I'm met be sarcasm. I'm hurt."

Draco raised an eyebrow at this. "You came to see how I was doing?"

"Of course," Harry answered as he pulled up a chair. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Why would you?"

"Because you're my friend and I've been worried, you prat." Harry shook his head slightly in exasperation. "You shouldn't have been here for so long; Madam Pomfrey can fix anything. You 're not really hurt, are you?"

Draco gained a slightly thoughtful expression for a moment before he grinned and leaded back against the wall. "No, I'm not really hurt anymore. Pomfrey fixed up my arm in five minutes and gave me a potion for the blood loss, so I had to stay the night, but I'm fine now."

"Then what's going on? Sounds like you should have been at breakfast, just like I thought."

"Ah, but where's the profit in that, Harry?" Draco smirked at him and made a vague gesture with his hand. "I've decided that I need recompense for my little injury. You'll see," he added at Harry's curious look. "I'm coming back tomorrow for Potions, anyway."

"That's good."

Draco shot him a suspicious look, but Harry didn't notice; he was looking over the book the blond had been reading when he'd come in.

"You're not honestly going to tell me you read Potions books for fun, are you?"

The question was so unexpected that Draco just stared for a moment before he started laughing. Harry blinked over at the blond in surprise, absently noting how angelic the blond actually looked when he was really happy, though he couldn't understand _why_ he was laughing. It wasn't supposed to be funny.

"Why are you laughing?"

Draco slowly calmed and smiled ruefully at him before looking away at the book. "I would have thought you'd know the answer to that by now."

"It's just amazing to me that anyone could like _Potions_ that much," Harry answered, his voice easily betraying that he was a bit embarrassed about his question now.

"Only because you're so poor at the subject," Draco said absently. His eyes were flying over the page of the book and obviously, Harry had already lost his attention.

"You, Draco, are as bad as Hermione."

Harry automatically shifted away from the blond when Draco tensed, though he was grinning slightly because he knew he wouldn't get seriously hurt.

"You dare to compare _me_ to that...that...Granger?"

"Well, yeah. It seems like you both have your noses in a books all the time. And I've heard that you're usually _quite_ the scholar."

"Take it back," Draco demanded as he sharply shut his book. Harry shook his head with a grin, but he did scoot a bit away from the bed.

"But you're acting just like her. She's the only person I've seen reading school related books for fun besides you."

Draco's eyes flashed dangerously, though Harry could see he was fighting hard to keep from grinning as well, and he lightly set his book aside before calmly sliding off the bed to the floor. "Harry, Harry, Harry, don't you know that I can easily torture you right here...?"

Harry wrinkled his nose slightly. "Now you sound like Lockhart."

"Lockhart threatened to torture you?" Draco seemed shocked by this and Harry had to fight hard to keep from laughing at his expression.

"Don't be silly. More like patronized me for seeking more fame or something." Harry shrugged, wrinkling his nose again. "Honestly, it was like he didn't really know who I was. He thought _he_ was more famous than _I_ am!"

Draco chuckled softly. "I never thought I would ever hear you admit to your fame, Harry. Really, we must celebrate this."

"Don't expect me to say anything like that again. It was just so annoying; I couldn't help thinking that. He was an idiot."

"And yet you're comparing me to him?" Draco frowned and shook his head slightly. "I really do know how to torture you, you know. I would hesitate to do so if you don't take all those horrid accusations back."

"Oh really?" Harry was just smiling faintly as he looked up at Draco, knowing perfectly well that if the blond tried anything, there wasn't much he could do about it.

Draco just nodded and stepped right in front of Harry, arms crossed. "So, are you going to take them back?"

"No."

"All right." Draco shrugged, and in an instant, he was running his fingers lightly over Harry's sides. Harry yelped and tried to squirm away, but he was laughing too hard before he could get far at all. Draco grinned and kept up his assault, pausing only when it was apparent Harry was having trouble breathing.

"Ready to submit?" Draco asked softly, his fingers poised to start tickling again.

"N-n-no," Harry gasped out, unable to move much more than that, though his cheeks were bright red mostly because of Draco's wording. "B-but," he added quickly, before the blond could start up again.

"What?"

"I-I'll admit th-that maybe H-H-Hermione is the one copying you..."

"And Lockhart?"

"Probably just...and unlucky c-coincidence..."

Draco pulled away a bit with a thoughtful expression, though he was pointedly not looking right at Harry's flushed face. "I think...that answer may merit your freedom," he finally said with a smirk as he pulled away and went to sit on the bed again.

"I should hope so," Harry answered, briefly sticking out his tongue. "You might have killing me before Voldemort gets the chance again. And then where would the wizarding world be?"

Draco just smirked again and settled back under the bedcovers, almost absently checking his watch. "Are you sure you should still be here? It's almost curfew–"

Harry, however, couldn't care less what time it was. He was staring at Draco as though the Slytherin had sprouted an extra arm out of his head.

"–And Pomfrey's going to be back any min–what?" Draco had just noticed how he was being stared at and found it a bit annoying.

"You...you didn't flinch or anything like that when I said Voldemort's name..."

Draco snorted softly in response. "Of course not. I don't have any reason to. And Malfoys don't flinch."

"You're the only person I know other than Professor Dumbledore that doesn't have a problem with it."

"That's because everyone else in the school is a–"

"I would suggest you don't finish that sentence, Malfoy, pleasant ending or not."

Both boys started a bit, Harry much more than Draco, when they heard the female voice drift across the room. The Gryffindor looked over with wide eyes that carefully watched Madam Pomfrey's progress across the room to Draco's bed. Her eyes flickered once over him before returning to the blond.

"I have your homework from your teachers, Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey said as she stopped next to the bed and set a pile of books on the nightstand.

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Draco said with a polite smile as he set his Potions book aside and looked over the pile for what to pick first. Harry snorted softly in his effort to keep from laughing at the blonde's tone and expression, thinking that it really didn't suit him at all, but this alerted Madam Pomfrey to his presence again.

"Potter!" she exclaimed in surprise. She looked nervously between Harry and Draco, neither of whom seemed to be bothered by being so near the other.

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked innocently.

The nurse just stared at him for a moment before speaking again. "Well, Potter, what is it this time?"

Harry merely tilted his head in confusion, though he was finding it quite hard not to laugh at the whole situation. "I'm not hurt, Madam Pomfrey, I just came to visit Draco."

The mediwitch blinked several times at that and her eyes wide grew wide as she looked between the two boys again. "You're..._visiting_...Malfoy...?

"Well, yeah. I mean he's been gone longer than I thought he should be, and I–"

"–Became worried about me," Draco finished for him. Harry stuck his tongue out briefly at the blond for interrupting him, which Draco didn't feel he needed return.

Madam Pomfrey was staring at both of then with wide eyes, looking like she wasn't sure whether to cheer or commit herself to St. Mungo's. Every staff member and student knew well about the long standing animosity between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy; in fact, all of the staff had been told to keep them away from each other as much as possible to keep their fighting to a minimum this year. Now, however, it seemed that the two boys were in complete about this surprising friendship, and she certainly hadn't heard anything remotely like fighting as she'd come in.

"Blessed Merlin!" she breathed, her eyes still flicking rapidly between them. Harry and Draco just grinned at each other before looking back at her.

"Could you keep this a secret, though, Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked suddenly, his expression now serious, which was immediately mirrored by Draco next to him.

"We don't want anyone to know about our truce just yet," Draco added with an agreeing nod. "You can tell a few of the staff, if you like, but no students, and they can't tell either."

"Good gracious, why not? Why, we should be celebrating this! I don't think we've ever had anyone so hateful towards each other since Professor Snape and James Potter were at school together!"

Harry's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to ask something only to have it covered by one of Draco's hands.

"Personally, I think only a few of the staff will be so pleased about this, Madam Pomfrey," Draco said with a slightly frown. "Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore, perhaps, but not many others. And the other students will be sorely disappointed; I believe it's only been our fighting that's kept most of them from sleeping through classes."

"You're conceited, Draco," Harry muttered once he'd pried the hand of his mouth. "We really don't want anyone to know, Madam Pomfrey. Can you keep it a secret, please? We'll tell everyone ourselves when it's time."

Madam Pomfrey was silent for a moment as she watched them again before she nodded and turned away. "You'd best be heading back to your dorms, Potter. Your curfew's in ten minutes."

Harry's eyes widened and he shot up from the chair just as her office door closed, but Draco grabbed one of his hands to hold him back before he could leave. Harry looked back at him with confusion, but it was a moment before Draco spoke.

"Thank you for coming to see me, Harry."

"No problem," Harry said with a smile. "I thought that was obvious?"

He became a bit confused, though, when Draco still didn't let go of his hand, and yet didn't say anything for a moment. The blond seemed to be indecisive about something as he looked up at Harry, his eyes focused on the brunet's. Harry was about to ask what was wrong when Draco suddenly nodded to himself and used their connected hands to pull him down into a very light kiss. Harry's eyes widened and he tensed immediately but didn't seem to be able to pull away until Draco let go of his hand, and even then he didn't pull away for another moment. When he finally did come to his senses, though, he jerked away from Draco, staring at him with wide eyes.

"W-w-why...did you do that?" Harry managed to stutter out after a moment; he could feel his cheeks starting to burn and imagined that maybe even his ears were turning red, like Ron's did.

Draco, however, just smirked and waved him off, his attention turning to his homework. "Can you meet me by the lake at lunch on Saturday? I can help you with your Potions homework if you come."

"D-do you want me to bring any food?" Harry asked softly, though he was feeling rather annoyed that Draco had ignored his question.

"If you like. I could have it provided." Draco shrugged and smirked up at him again. "I'll answer your question if you come, too. By then I should have figured out the answer.

"You are such a git," Harry muttered as he turned to leave.

"You only say that to get me to tell you why I kissed you," Draco answered. The blush Harry had been sure was leaving came back in full force. "Anyway, you now have seven minutes to get back to your dorm."

Harry's eyes widened and he called a short, "See you later, Draco!" before dashing out of the hospital wing.

* * *

Luckily for Harry, he managed to get back to Gryffindor tower a minute before curfew and he was able to pass of his red face to excursion. He headed straight up to the boy's dorms, though, and changed into his pyjamas before sitting in the window to look down over the darkened grounds as he thought about what had happened. 

Draco had _kissed_ him. Closed-mouthed, of course, but still, Draco was another guy! Besides which, they might be friends, but they'd only been friends for a couple months and before that, they 'hated' each other. Now he wasn't sure if he wanted to go meet with the blonde on Saturday; what if he got kissed again? Or what if Draco didn't really want to be his friend anymore if he didn't let the blonde do any more?

More frightening even was that he thought he'd actually _liked_ the kiss, which was bad because they were both boys. And as boys, they were supposed to like girls, not other boys, no matter how...attractive...the other boy might be. Not that Draco was attractive to him. Oh no, he wasn't. Of course, he hadn't actually had a crush on a girl yet, but he had only turned thirteen over the summer. There was still time...if Draco didn't kiss him again.

"Hey, Harry?"

Harry looked over when he heard Ron's voice, slightly glad that his form would be silhouetted against the window so his friend would see that his face was still bright red.

"Are you all right? Nothing happened on your walk, did it?"

'_Oh Ron, if only you knew.'_ "No, I'm just adjusting. I kind of miss being able to romp around in Diagon, you know?"

He heard Ron breathe a relieved sigh and start over to dig through his stuff. "That's good. You had everyone really worried."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You just dashed in like that, looking like you'd just been snogged or something–" Harry could feel his blush darken, and he quickly looked back out the window– "or that's what Seamus assumed anyway. Hermione was too busy with her homework to really notice."

"So are you done with yours?"

"Mostly." Ron shrugged and climbed into bed. "I'm going to turn in. You might want to too before Seamus comes up here."

"I will. 'Night, Ron."

"'Night."

* * *

Harry frowned as he walked into the dungeons and didn't see Draco in the room. The other boy had said he was going to be back in time for Potions, but Harry hadn't seen him at breakfast, and now he wasn't in Potions with the class about the start. Harry frowned as he went over to sit next to Ron, glancing a couple times over at Draco's empty seat. 

"Today," announced Snape as he strode into the room; the class fell silent at once, "you will be making a Shrinking Solution, which returns objects and animals to an earlier state. For example, if you place a few drops on a piece of parchment, it will turn into whatever animal it came from. A full grown animal will become its infantile still. It will not, however, do anything to something that has been unchanged, such as a quill.

"However, before you start the Potion, we shall spend some time discussing the essays you were to have completed over the summer holidays. Bring them out. Now!"

About half the class moved to pull out their essays, most of them Gryffindors, since the rest had anticipated this and already had theirs out. Hermione's proved to be the longest by far, but Snape hardly even looked at it before moving on. He deliberately picked up Harry's essay with a smirk and began reading through it, but stopped halfway through and set it back down on the desk with a scowl. Harry mentally grinned; he knew there wasn't anything Snape could complain about since Draco had helped him a lot and had demanded to check over his essay multiple times.

About fifteen minutes after Snape finally set them on making there Potions, Draco sauntered into the dungeons with his right arm covered in bandages, just as it had been the previous night. Harry looked up when he heard the gasps of surprise and frowned slightly when he saw this; there was no reason Draco should still have his arm bandaged. He was definitely up to something.

"How is it, Draco?" asked Pansy Parkinson in a rather overly sweet voice. "Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," answered Draco, and he briefly grimaced in what Harry was supposed to be out of bravery, though he knew better. And once Pansy looked away, Draco winked briefly at his cronies.

"Settle down, settle down," Snape said casually from where he was sitting at his desk. "Malfoy, we are making a Shrinking Solution today. Please get started immediately. I expect you to turn your essay by the end of class, and I would prefer if you try to come on time from now on, injuries or not."

"Yes, sir," Draco answered dutifully, immediately taking out his own essay and handing it to the professor. Then he set up his cauldron on the same table as Harry and Ron. He and Harry briefly locked gazes and he smirked at the brunet's questioning look before turning his head a bit to call out, "Sir, sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm–"

* * *

Harry nervously headed down to the lake at five 'til noon on Saturday, having ditched Ron and Hermione in the entrance hall. 

"But where are you going?" she had asked when he said he'd have to meet up with them later in the library.

"I just need to go talk with someone and I'm not sure how long it will take. Don't worry, Hermione; I'll be fine." Harry smiled slightly at her irritated, knowing very well that she couldn't understand that something could possibly be more important than homework, which was what he might have been doing if he weren't going off somewhere.

"Well...okay..." Hermione seemed very reluctant but she turned away and headed into the Great Hall anyway. Ron, however, stayed behind, glancing nervously at her receding back.

"Harry," he finally started once she was out of hearing distance, "does this have anything to do with whatever happened Wednesday night?"

Harry had to try hard not to blush at the memory this brought back. "Um...yeah..."

"So, will you tell me about it later?"

Harry sighed softly and shook his head. "We don't really want anyone to know anything yet. We've already been caught once. I'm sorry, Ron," he added when his friend's face fell, "but this is really important to me. I'll tell you when the time is right, and that's not right now."

"I understand, mate. Just...see if you can tell me before the holidays, all right? You know I hate suspense like this."

"I'll try," Harry answered with a rueful smile. Ron didn't smile back, however, as he turned away to follow Hermione into the Great Hall for lunch.

Now that Harry was outside and headed towards the lake, he was extremely nervous and the same worries he'd thought of Wednesday night came back in full. He was really starting to hope that Draco's kiss had been nothing more than a cruel joke.

About halfway to the lake, Harry saw a figure standing near the shore, looking as though he/she was waiting for someone. At first, Harry couldn't tell who it might be, and he started freaking out a bit since it would be very bad for someone to see him with Draco. But once he got closer, the figure turned and Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Draco and not some stranger. He didn't see any food in sight. Draco turned away and started walking in the direction of the Forbidden Forest long before Harry reached him, though this had been somewhat expected as soon as he'd seen Draco waiting for him. This way it would look more like he was going after the blond to start something and not that they were going together by choice.

Draco led him around the lake for a ways until the came close to the forest, and then he veered off a bit towards the lake and one of the larger trees on the grounds. On the opposite side of the tree than the castle was a huge picnic with more food than two people could hope to eat in a whole day, much less one meal. Because of how the picnic was positioned by the tree, it was unlikely that anyone would see them until they could hear him or she coming. Only once both of them were hidden behind the tree did Draco finally turn and smirk at him.

"You're braver than I thought, Harry," he said as Harry looked around, mostly at the food, with awe.

"How did you get all of this out here?" Harry asked, obviously referring to the food.

"That's my little secret," Draco answered with a smirk. He didn't seem to notice when Harry glared at him a bit and sat down, lightly patting the ground next to him. "Come on, most of this'll spoil if we don't eat it soon."

Harry watched him apprehensively for a moment before sitting in the indicated spot, though he didn't sit as close as he might have a few days ago. And he was silent as he started dishing up food for himself onto one of the plates that had been included in the picnic. Draco frowned slightly at this but started dishing up his own food as well.

"I think you wanted an answer to a couple things, Harry," Draco said after a moment of silence, slanting a look at the Gryffindor. Harry paused in his eating and nodded, looking over at the blond apprehensively again, though he quickly looked away again when Draco snapped, "Don't look at me like that. I've done nothing wrong."

"You kissed me. How is that 'nothing wrong'?" Harry demanded softly, a light blush rising in his cheeks as he remembered.

"And obviously you liked it somewhat," Draco pointed out, causing Harry's blush to deepen. "If you had minded, then it would have been something I did wrong. But it's obvious you didn't."

"Why did you do it?" Harry asked, his gaze fixing itself intently on Draco. "Why, when we've only just started being friends? I wouldn't have thought you'd risk losing that so soon..."

"Will I lose it?"

Harry was silent for a few moments before he looked away and muttered, "No. But you should."

Draco sighed and turned his gaze out towards the lake as he spoke, "Maybe. But if you want to know the truth, I honestly have no clue why I kissed you. I just know that my body wanted me to. Why, I really don't know. It probably just has something to do with puberty."

"So...you'll probably do it again?"

"No, not if you don't want me to. And judging by this, you're not going to want me to."

Harry stayed suspiciously silent at this and Draco had to raise an eyebrow in question. "You do want me to?"

"I don't know," Harry muttered, staring at his feet.

"Oh?" Draco grinned and leaned closer to the Gryffindor. "Want to find out?"

"No!" Harry bit his lip when Draco recoiled and hurriedly added, "Don't take it like that. I'm sorry. I'm just really confused right now. And I'm still mad at you for what you're doing to Hagrid."

"And you're going to _stay_ mad at me until I stop what I'm doing, I'm sure." Draco shrugged slightly and went back to eating. "Do you have any other questions?"

"Yeah. What were you talking about in Potions on Thursday?"

Draco smirked over at him. "You mean about Black?"

"Yes about Black. What else were we talking about during Potions, besides your stupid scheme to get Hagrid fired?"

"Ah well, we might have talked about something else as well." Draco leaned back against the tree and set his empty plate aside, watching Harry with a smirk. "So, what did you want to know?"

"Everything!" Harry answered, setting his plate down as well. "God, Draco, you're so annoying sometimes. I didn't understand anything of what you were saying!"

Draco blinked and the smirk slipped from his face. "Really?"

"Yes, really. For one, why would I want revenge on him? I know he did a really horrible thing, and he worked for Voldemort, but it didn't have anything to do with me."

"You don't know..." Draco shook his head with amazement, glaring once towards the castle. "I would have thought someone would have told you, if not before at least this year when you got the school."

"Told me _what_?" Harry asked, getting irritated.

"Harry...Black's the reason your parents are dead. He's the one who told Voldemort where they were."

Harry's eyes widened as his gaze swung around to rest on Draco. "_What_?"

"You're parents were in hiding, Harry, but Black knew where they were and he told Voldemort. They probably wouldn't have been found if Black hadn't told. At least, that's what Father told me."

Harry looked away at the ground in shock. "He...killed my parents..."

"Essentially, yes, he did."

"And now he's free..."

"Unfortunately."

Harry shut his eyes tightly and took several deep breaths, trying to calm down, but it wasn't working very well. Draco looked surprised and a little uneasy when a tear suddenly rolled down Harry's cheek. He had no idea what to do to comfort someone, especially someone like Harry Potter.

"Harry...?" he asked tentatively, looking extremely unnerved. Harry turned teary eyes on the blond, not noticing his unease.

"How could he have escaped, Draco? No one escapes Azkaban. Even I know that..."

Draco sighed and gently took one of Harry's hands, staring at it rather than the brunet's face. "I know, Harry. But I'm sure the Ministry, however stupid they are, will catch him soon. They have the dementors after him, after all, and not much can get past those."

"But Black did..." Harry suddenly shuttered, managing a weak smile. "And please don't mention those horrid dementors. It's better if I just forget that they're around."

"No, wouldn't want to faint again would we?" Draco said with a faint grin. Harry pouted slightly and hit him lightly on the arm.

"You'd better shut up about that. I heard you nearly wet yourself, so I can easily retaliate to the school."

Draco's sliver eyes narrowed at this. "And who told you that?"

"The twins, Tuesday morning. I was ignoring you then."

"I see. Pity I enjoy their pranks or I'd have to curse them."

Harry laughed at that and briefly checked his watch. "How long were you planning to spend out here?"

"How long is it going to take you to decide whether I can kiss you again or not?"

Harry groaned softly as he leaned back against the tree next to the Slytherin; was Draco never going to let up until he agreed?

"Draco?" Harry murmured, casting a wary eye on the boy in question, "will you still be my friend if I say no?"

"Of course; like I told you, it's probably just puberty kicking in. I'm not going to be hurt if you don't want it."

"And if I said yes?"

Draco looked faintly amused at this. "Harry, you prat, I'm the one who wants that. Of course we'll still be friends if you say yes."

Harry sighed and briefly covered his eyes, looking as though he was about to say something he just knew he would regret. "I...I guess...you can, if you want. But it's only as an experiment."

"Oh?"

"Don't you 'oh' me, Draco Malfoy. You know perfectly well what I mean by that."

"Of course I do," Draco answered with a smirk. Before Harry could say anything more, the blond leaned over and gently pressed his lips to the Gryffindor's. Harry tensed for a moment, but once he was sure Draco wasn't going to do much else, he let his eyes close and relaxed somewhat. A moment later, he placed a light hand on Draco's shoulder, though he was completely unsure why he did it. Draco, however, was grinning when he slowly pulled away.

"So?" the blond asked softly, as though trying not to spoil the mood.

"So what?" Harry responded with a faint smile. Draco rolled his eyes and pinched the hand he still held.

"How did your experiment turn out?"

Harry shrugged, remembering how nice it really was to be kissing Draco. It was like...someone actually cared for him for once. He couldn't bring himself to really respond though; it was more a feeling of contentment he'd felt, nothing much like love or lust.

"I think...my hormones aren't working as fast as yours," he answered finally with a faint smirk. "But I wouldn't mind you doing it again. Are you sure this isn't wrong, though? We're both boys..."

Draco rolled his eyes again and settled back next to Harry. "Does it really matter? We're _wizards_, Harry. Homosexuality isn't a problem for wizards like it is for Muggles. It's not like we can't have kids."

Harry turned beet red at what that implied, managing to choke out, "Let's not think about that yet, Draco. It's a bit too early to be thinking about things like that."

Draco just smirked and relaxed against the tree, looking rather content. "Whatever."

They were silent for a few moments before Harry thought of something and his eyes widened. "Hey, how often were we planning on meeting like this?"

"Why not every Saturday? It's not like you'll do something productive otherwise."

Harry frowned and hit him lightly on the arm before going on, "Wouldn't that look a bit suspicious, though? The school's two greatest rivals disappearing on a regular basis at the same time? I'm sure someone would end up putting two and two together."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Well, I was thinking we could owl each other again, although we'll have to figure out aliases for ourselves so no one would know who we'd be writing too."

"And we couldn't use Hedwig," Draco added, a thoughtful look forming on his face.

"Or Thiassi probably. Your friends would recognize him."

"My 'friends' are dimwits and don't see him very often. We could get away with it."

Harry smiled at this. "That's good. I like your owl. But what are we going to do about names?"

Draco just smirked and winked at him. "Don't worry. I'll figure something out for both of us."

* * *

About two weeks after the start of term was when Harry received his first letter from Draco. He'd just sat down to breakfast with Ron (Hermione was already there, like always) when Thiassi led the owls into the Great hall and landed gracefully on Harry's shoulder. 

"Thiassi!" Harry exclaimed happily, though he made sure to be a bit quiet so the Slytherins couldn't hear him. Thiassi hooted cheerfully and held his foot out so Harry could take the letter there, nipping affectionately at his fingers much like Hedwig did.

"You know this owl, Harry?" Hermione asked in surprise as Harry looked over the envelope to see what Draco had picked for his fake name.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you? I got a pen pal over the summer," Harry answered with a smile, if a bit absently. He fed Thiassi a bit of bacon before the owl flew off again and turned back to the letter again, inwardly grinning at the identical looks of shock on his friends' faces.

"No, you never mentioned it, mate," Ron answered finally, staring at the letter as though it were a Howler. "But I thought you couldn't send letters during the summer?"

Harry just barely heard he question as he was too busy staring at his "name," vaguely wondering what Draco's would be if he picked _that_ to be Harry's.

"'Ahren Ras Elased?'" Hermione read out loud as she looked over his shoulder to see the letter. "That's odd..."

Harry shrugged with what he hoped was a sheepish looking smile as he answered, "I'm using that for my pen name. I'd rather my pen pal is my friend because of my personality, not because I'm Harry Potter. The last part is a star in Leo, since that's my sun sign, but I'm not sure what Ahren means. I just over heard my aunt say it and it kind of stuck."

"Oh." Hermione looked a bit shocked at this. "That's really clever, Harry."

'_Well I did have a week and a half to think of these excuses.'_ "Thanks Hermione," Harry said aloud with a smile as he took out the letter; he'd been quite relived to see that Draco hadn't sealed the letter with his family crest as he usually did; Ron would be sure the recognize it. Speaking of whom... "Oh, and Ron? I only owled him because he sent the letter first and we only used his owl, and not Hedwig, which didn't actually break my uncle's rules. Please don't be mad."

"Don't worry; I'm just glad you weren't completely bored over the summer," Ron answered, wearing a grin to prove he wasn't upset. "So, are you gonna read it to us? We should know whether this bloke is trying to corrupt our best friend, after all.

Harry rolled his eyes slightly but started reading aloud anyway.

_Dear Ahren,_

_I'm sorry it took me so long to write back. Things have been really busy here and I've had a lot of homework. In fact, I just barely had time to write this. I had a major Transfiguration essay due yesterday, and I've a Potions one due on Thursday._

_How have you been? I met the nicest boy on Saturday and we really connected. I can't believe I hadn't really seen or talked to him before; we go to the same school and he's in our year. I really like him; he's such a great person. And he's had a hard childhood so we can relate a bit on that._

_Actually, he's not bad looking either. That's helps too._

Harry snickered slightly at this before continuing, pointedly not looking at Ron and Hermione's reactions to the letter until he was done with the letter.

_Pity you can't go the Hogsmede this year. I've heard that's a big event at your school. It really isn't fair that you can't go; you really need to for the experience, and it's not your fault your uncle wouldn't sign the permission form. Isn't there anything you can do? Have you talked to your head of House? Maybe he/she can do something._

_Are your Quidditch practices starting soon? I wish your team luck, anyway. Ours start next week._

_Write back soon,_

_Rast_

_P.S. Thought I'd stop this little tradition? I should hope not. So you'd best think of something to discuss here in your next letter._

"He...sounds like a Slytherin in places," Ron muttered with a frown as his eyes scanned the letter again. "Like here," he added, pointing at the postscript.

"What's his full name?" Hermione asked suddenly, also frowning at the letter. "I notice he didn't put it down."

Normally, Harry would have freaked at this question, but he'd noticed that Draco had included this in very small script at the very bottom of the page–which neither of his friends had noticed. "Rastaban Arrakis," Harry answered without hesitation.

"Rastaban? Wasn't he one of You-Know-Who's followers? I thought he was in Azkaban."

Hermione rolled her eyes slightly. "Honestly, Ron. That was _Rabastan_, not Rastaban. Rastaban is a star name, like Ras Elased. Actually, both of them are..." Hermione frowned a bit at this revelation and gently took the letter so she could read it over again.

"Well, whatever it is, it sounds like a Slytherin name too. Hey," Ron suddenly said, looking at Harry with wide eyes, "What if it _is_ a Slytherin and they just had the same idea as you? To use a fake name? Blimey, you could be owling _Draco Malfoy_ and you wouldn't know!"

Harry tried very hard not to flush or wince or do anything other then stare at them in disbelief as Hermione's eyes also widened as she apparently thought the idea had merit. "You could be right, Ron. And you know...both of these names are stars in Draco. Although I highly doubt Malfoy would be so stupid as to pick star names from his own namesake, just in case."

"I doubt he's Malfoy, guys," Harry said softly, frowning at the tabletop.

"Oh? Why?"

"He doesn't sound a thing like Malfoy, for one thing, or a Slytherin for that matter. He really just sounds sarcastic in those places. Or teasing." Harry shrugged, trying to think of something else to say that would hopefully steer them off this risky train of thought.

"Yes, but Harry, you don't really know it's not him–"

"Yes, I do," Harry said suddenly, his eyes widening a bit as he remembered exactly what he'd written in his letters to Draco. "Because I've mentioned Hedwig and described her to him. And if he were Malfoy, he would know who I am by my owl, and I bet he would have said something to us or asked me in a letter. And I told him that I'd been raised by Muggles and Malfoy knows that too."

Hermione frowned slightly, not quite looking convinced.

"And I know I mentioned you guys by name several times," Harry added, getting a bit desperate now.

"Well, it can't be anyone at Hogwarts, then," Ron said with conviction. "Everyone here knows we're your best friends. If it were anyone here, they'd know who you were instantly."

"I suppose that's true..." Hermione murmured, though her eyes were still frantically scanning the parchment.

Harry sighed, "Come on, Hermione, you're not going to find anything. You've already read it five t–"

"Potter!"

The three Gryffindors turned in surprise, as did many of their Housemates, to see Professor McGonagall strode purposefully toward them. Across the hall, Draco also looked up from a note he'd been reading with a frown.

"Yes, Professor?" Harry asked as politely and innocently as possible; he had no idea what he might have done wrong.

"Potter, I would like to see you in my office after class today. Don't worry, you're not in trouble," she added swiftly at their horrified looks. "I just need to talk to you about something. And no, Weasley, Granger, you may not come along."

Ron's mouth fell open, but Hermione just nodded and turned away to look over Draco's letter again, obviously too preoccupied to even think of arguing with a teacher.

"Right after class, Professor?" Harry asked, trying to see if he could tell anything from Professor McGonagall's face. He shouldn't have thought of trying.

"Yes, if you could just wait after, it won't take long. You shouldn't miss much of lunch if all goes well." Professor McGonagall only gave him a faint smile before she started walking away. "You three had best be getting to class."

"Yes, Professor," the three of them chorused, if just to remain polite. Harry gently took Draco's letter back from Hermione so he could fold it up and stick it into his pocket before he stood to leave with his friends. He paused, though, when Draco himself caught his gaze from across the hall. Harry almost just smiled at him and went to leave anyway until he noticed the worried expression that Draco was trying his best to keep from his face and his gleaming silver eyes. Sure that he had Harry's attention, Draco briefly let him see the note he'd been reading earlier, clearly mouthing the name "Snape." Harry frowned slightly, quickly beginning to understand what exactly Professor McGonagall wanted to talk to him about. He pulled out a piece of parchment and quickly scribbled, "_Meet me at the tree after classes,"_ before folding it into an airplane and charming it to fly over to Malfoy under the tables. The silver eyes narrowed slightly and he reached under the table, coming back up with the note. After a moment, he looked back up at Harry and nodded as he used his wand to burn up the note. Harry nodded in return and finally finished gathering his things so he could join Ron and Hermione, who were waiting just outside the Great Hall.

"What held you up?" Ron asked as they started for the North Tower.

"Ernie Macmillan asked me a question about the Herbology homework. He said he'd overheard me telling Neville that I'd finished it."

"You did?" Ron asked in surprise.

"Yeah, last night."

"Oh. Can I borrow it?"

"Sure, just don't ever tell Neville; he'd be offended you didn't ask him."

* * *

It was with a very unsure expression that Harry remained in the classroom after Transfiguration while the other students filed out to go to the Great Hall for lunch. Ron and Hermione gave him sympathetic looks as they reluctantly left the classroom, but that really only made him feel worse. Professor McGonagall stood as soon as the last student left the room, causing him to stand as well, and gestured for him to follow her into the office adjacent to the classroom. As soon as he was inside, she locked the door that led out and waved her hand at the seat in front of the desk there. 

"Have a seat, Potter," she said as she took her own place behind the desk. "And there's no need to look like that; you're not in trouble. I merely wish to discuss something with you."

This didn't make Harry feel any better as he sat down across from Professor McGonagall. In fact, he was fairly certain he knew what she wanted to talk about, and that just made him feel a bit sick. After all, why would she allow him to be friends with a Slytherin, and Draco Malfoy, son of one of Voldemort's very loyal old supporters, at that? And he was positive Snape would do what he could to make sure he and Draco did not remain friends.

"Now, Potter, do you know you're here?"

Harry nodded. "I think so."

"Why?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but promptly shut it when he remembered what Draco had told Madam Pomfrey and what Professor McGonagall had actually said so far. Not much, actually, meaning he really _didn't_ know why she had asked him here. She may have no idea about him and Draco, and if he mentioned it, then where would they be? It was best not to say a thing about it, just in case.

"I'm sorry, Professor," he finally answered, "but it isn't really something I want anyone to know about if I'm wrong."

"Very well." Professor McGonagall frowned slightly but nodded in understanding all the same. "We should get straight to the point, then. As you know, Mr Malfoy was injured during the first Care of Magical Creatures lesson this year. I believe you were present."

Harry just nodded silently; he remembered that quite well.

"Two days later, Madam Pomfrey came to me and Professor Snape with a very interesting story. She claimed that you voluntarily visited Mr Malfoy while he was injured and that the two of you were getting along quite well. In fact, she said you both claimed you are now friends. Is this true, Potter?"

Harry's heart sank a bit; yes, that was exactly what she wanted to talk about. "Yes, it is, Professor."

"Then I would like to know what exactly caused this remarkable change of events."

"Well, I was bored over the summer," Harry answered with a small sigh, wondering vaguely if Snape was being nearly so nice about this with Draco. He doubted it. "I had to promise my uncle that I wouldn't send any letters to my friends so I could let Hedwig fly a bit. I couldn't just sit there and do nothing but homework, though; that gets a bit old after a while. So I sent one letter to Dr–Malfoy, since he wasn't really a friend at all, hoping that maybe we would exchange insults by owl or something and I wouldn't be so bored.

"He, uh, wasn't really very mean in his response. We sent a couple letters back and forth, and then he asked me to tell him what living with Muggles is like, and he told what it had been like for him to grow up a pureblood wizard. And we really aren't that different, so we just got along better after that. He sent me a present for my birthday, and then we met up in Diagon after I blew up my aunt and hung out most of the time until school started.

"It's been kind of hard for me to adjust to 'hating' him again for being at school, but we've managed it. I had to see him when he was hurt though; he shouldn't have been in the hospital so long. And we've met up a couple times since school started to talk and help each other on homework. He's really not very good at Defence against the Dark Arts."

Professor McGonagall appeared to be quite taken aback once Harry fell silent, and she seemed not to quite know what to say for a moment. Finally she sighed and smiled approvingly at him. "Well, I must say I'm proud of you, Potter."

"What?" Harry said in disbelief; he'd expected an immediate rant on how dangerous it was to be friends with a Malfoy or something, but not that.

"You've managed to set aside what happened in the past between you two and become friends. I think that is definitely something to be proud of."

"I...thank you, Professor."

Professor McGonagall was not smiling for long though; her expression soon became very serious. _'Ah, here it comes,'_ Harry thought with a soft sigh.

"However, I feel I must warn you how dangerous it is to be close in anyway to a Malfoy," she said sternly. "His father was once one of You-Know-Who's most loyal followers and it is very likely that Malfoy has been raised to have the same ideals and therefore, the same intentions–"

"He doesn't," Harry interrupted firmly.

"Excuse me?"

"Draco is not his father, Professor," Harry continued, sure about this more than most things. "He does have many of the same ideas about wizards and Muggles, but he wouldn't pledge his life to Voldemort if he ever returned. Draco is far too prideful for that, and he...is intrigued by Muggles and Muggle-borns, I believe. He wouldn't have asked me what it was like to live with them if he wasn't."

"You may believe that, Potter, but it is my job and that of the other teachers to keep you safe. No, I am not telling you that you cannot remain friends with Malfoy," she said quickly to banish Harry's distraught look. "I think it's wonderful that you have managed to accomplish this. I am telling you to be careful while you're around him and to remember that he may be acting on his father's orders to get close to you."

Harry frowned slightly, knowing that this could very well be the reason Draco was his friend. But as he remembered dancing with that blond at the club and kissing him a couple weeks ago, he just couldn't see it as _the_ reason.

"I'll remember, Professor." Harry sighed softly and looked up at her. "May I go now? Lunch is almost half over."

"Of course, Potter."

Harry smiled and stood up, turning to leave out the door that led out into the hall. He paused with his hand on the doorknob, looking back at her with a soft frown. "Professor, who exactly knows about this?"

"Professor Dumbledore, of course, myself, and the other main teachers, including Professors Snape and Lupin. Hagrid does not know. That is all until you two wish to tell everyone."

Relief spread over Harry's face. "Thanks, Professor."

She just smiled as he left, shaking her head slightly to herself once he was gone. "I hope those boys know what they're doing..."

* * *

"Hey, Harry." 

Harry frowned when he heard the tone of Draco's voice and lifted his head from his knees to look up at the blond with concern.

"What's wrong?"

Draco didn't answer as he sat down next to Harry, looking out at the lake with him instead of looking at him. He seemed to be a bit depressed and annoyed about something, but that was all Harry could tell from his face since he still had his usual mask on and hardly anything could show through.

"Was it Snape?" Harry pressed, determined to make Draco say _something_, even if it wasn't something he really wanted to hear.

Draco nodded and sighed inaudibly so that it could only be noticed by someone like Harry, who had been studying his every gesture and expression since they'd met up at Diagon. "Yes. He wanted to talk to me about our friendship. Madam Pomfrey told him the day I came back to classes."

Harry waited for him to go on, but soon it was obvious the blond didn't plan to say anything else and he asked impatiently, "So? What did he say about it?"

"Well...he said he doesn't approve of us being enemies anymore..."

Draco said this so deliberately and with such dejection that it took Harry a moment to realize exactly what had been said.

"You're such a prat!" Harry exclaimed with a laugh, lightly hitting him in the hand when Draco just grinned in response. "Are you serious? He's actually okay with us being friends?"

"Ah, well, he never actually said that," Draco answered. "But he didn't say anything against it either. Actually, I think his exact words were 'Well, it could have been someone worse, like Weasley or Longbottom.' I don't think he really cares."

"Coming from Snape, that's a miracle."

Draco smirked and turned to look back at the lake. "So what did McGonagall say? Probably something about me being a bad influence on you."

"Not exactly. Just that I should remember who you are and who your father is and that I should be careful around you. She seemed pretty enthused about it, actually."

"I'm not surprised. I bet Dumbledore celebrated for days when he found out."

Harry gained a very amusing image of Dumbledore in a party hat and absurdly coloured robes dancing to music around his office, which was also gaudily decorated, with a glass of pumpkin juice in one hand and opening a cracker from Christmas with a disgruntled looking Snape with the other. He laughed softly at this, grinning over at Draco.

"I could see that."

"I could tell."

Harry sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned back against the tree. "Did Snape tell you which teachers were told?"

"Yes. I notice that oaf Hagrid wasn't. Nor Trelawney."

Harry glared weakly over at him at the insult to Hagrid. "It's a good thing Hagrid doesn't know, Draco. If he knew, the whole school would too by the end of the day. And there's no reason to tell Trelawney."

Draco chuckled softly, looked at him with a good deal of amusement in his eyes. "I never thought I'd see the day that you'd insult one of your friends."

"You still haven't. It really wasn't supposed to be insulting," Harry said with a shrug, closing his eyes again. They flew open a second later when he sensed something looming over him and widened when he saw that Draco was now kneeling over him, hands against the tree on either side of his head, with an odd expression on his face.

"You didn't tell McGonagall that I've kissed you, did you?" Draco asked softly as he leaned a bit closer to Harry. The Gryffindor shook his head, too stunned to say much of anything, and far too alarmed to do much about Draco's position either. This obviously showed on his face, because in a second Draco was sitting down next to him again, his face averted away from Harry.

"I'm sorry; I should have remembered you're uncomfortable with things like that..."

Harry rolled his eyes slightly, but his voice showed he was anything but annoyed with the Slytherin. "It's okay. I was startled more than anything."

"I won't do it again if you don't want–"

"Draco," Harry said as he gently touched the blonde's arm, "I'm fine. Really. Just a bit shaken, but that's normal in my life, isn't it?"

Draco smiled weakly, showing he did appreciate the effort, but pulled away from Harry and slowly stood up, his eyes drifting towards the lake. "We should probably get going. Your friends are going to wonder what's happened to you and we both have homework."

Harry frowned slightly as he stood as well, grabbing Draco's hand before the blond could leave the safety of the tree. Draco's eyes widened as he looked down at the darker hand holding his own, easily seeing the familiarity of this, before they drifted up to Harry's face.

"Harry, what are you doing?"

"Showing you that I'm fine. You don't seem to believe me when I say it." Harry smiled and pulled Draco closer, pressing a light kiss to the corner of his mouth before he could say anything. The Slytherin pulled away quickly and looked at him in shock, though he was quickly composed again, and Harry had a sudden sense of déja-vu, though he knew last time their positions were reversed.

"You...you're bloody amazing, Potter," Draco breathed with a smirk.

"I know," Harry said with an answering grin. Draco just shook his head and briefly initiated his own kiss before pulling away completely and starting to walk away. He'd taken maybe five steps before he turned back around.

"Hey, how did you like our names, Ahren?"

Harry laughed softly, patting his pocket where the letter was. "They were brilliant, Rast, although I think you need to be smarter about it next time you have to try."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because we were almost found out."

Draco's eyes widened and he came back over, leaning against the tree. "Tell me."

Harry sighed and told him briefly about what had happened that morning at breakfast; Draco had a slight scowl by the time he was finished, but his eyes were smiling.

"I swear that girl is too smart for her own good. That goes for the Weasel too; too damned lucky."

"I steered them off of you though."

"I know." Draco smirked at this and pushed away from the tree. "And you realize that now you've told them all that, they'll never think it's me again. Brilliant, Ahren."

A light blush crept over Harry's cheeks and he gently pushed Draco out from behind the tree. "Get out of here, _Rastaban_. I'll owl you later. Want to meet up on Saturday again?"

"Sure. Later, Harry. You'd better get that letter to me soon."

"I will. See you, Draco."


	3. Part I Ch III Troubled Waters

Calai'di: To answer a couple questions/comments from reviewers

This is going to last all the way to the end of book 7 (even though it hasn't been written yet). Every thing that happens in the books will happen here; I'm not going to change anything. If book 7 comes out before I get there, I'm still going to keep with my ideas for it, so then just that part will be AU

Oh, and yes, maybe that are a _bit_ too young for anything more than kissing and mild touching, but they have reached puberty. In fact, third year was when Harry starting liking Cho, so he, at least, is getting hormonal. And of course, Draco does nothing half-assed

-winks- but of course, you all get to wait a bit to find out how Cho, Pansy, and Ginny will fit in properly to my fic

-growls- fucking AFF. They figured out somehow that I'm not 18, though how I don't know because I don't recall ever giving them that info, so they kicked me off and deleted my stories. I had 17 reviews on this fic already over there! -growls- not in a good mood now..

* * *

Background Secrets

Part I: Third Year

Chapter III: Troubled Waters

"Staying here, Potter?" Draco Malfoy's voice rang throughout the hall from where he was waiting in line to leave the castle. "Scared of passing the dementors?"

Harry sighed and resolutely ignored Malfoy as he left the entrance hall, having no interest in watching most of the other students leave to spend the day in Hogsmeade. It only served to remind him more that he was the only third year who couldn't go, which hurt more than most events that he could remember. It was just made worse by the fact that it had been Draco that taunted him about it, because the blond had known he couldn't go weeks before his Gryffindor friends and had promised to find a way to get him there. Needless to say, he'd failed; he had, however, apologized profusely and promised to bring back whatever he could for Harry. And now he was the one to initiate the taunting. Lovely.

It was easier to ignore him this time, Harry reflected as he started up another flight of stairs. In fact, it had been growing easier to either ignore, which he did most of the time, or retort to Draco's put on insults ever since their Heads of House had given the final okay on their friendship. Part of that was probably because they'd been meeting at The Tree at least once a week since term started and that let him get to know the real Draco again and not Malfoy, the Slytherin bane of his life. That didn't mean it didn't hurt every time an insult was thrown. Although, Draco had been insulting Harry much less than usual. Most of the time, he sneered at Ron or Hermione instead, and Harry hadn't been so blind as to not notice this. He supposed it was because of their closeness, and it gave him a great deal of comfort in the middle of an argument in the hallways.

Outside of classes and away from other students, their meetings were completely different. It had become a habit to help each other with homework during their meetings and this was mutually helpful, though Draco rarely needed help with any of his homework. Harry was always extremely grateful that the blond didn't seem to care about his lack of help, because otherwise, he would have had real problems in Potions. As it was, he couldn't always let Draco help him, since that would cause awkward questions with his Gryffindor friends, but whatever help he received he found invaluable. Both of them enjoyed watching Snape repeatedly get angry because there was nothing wrong with one of Harry's essays or that his potion for the day was a good deal better than his standard. It helped that Snape was already in a bad mood because of Neville's boggart, though a lot of his anger was because of Harry's subtle improvements. Draco in particular seemed to enjoy watching the professor's eyes narrow at Harry every class period, though he would never say why.

If they weren't doing homework (which was about half the time; Harry found it was much easier to complete his work in Draco's presence), they just talked about whatever came to mind, such as Quidditch. Draco, Harry noticed, liked to ask subtle questions about what life was like living with Muggles, though he supposed he probably asked just as many questions about a wizard's life. And when they weren't doing either homework or talking (which was rarely), they just sat and watched the giant squid or Quidditch practices. In fact, since that Tuesday when they'd been given the okay on their friendship, they'd only really kissed twice. Harry could tell that Draco a bit frustrated about this, especially since they'd only been simple kisses at the most, and this had probably contributed to the jibe about not being able to go to Hogsmeade, weak as it was. Harry, though, really couldn't help but still be nervous about the whole thing; it wasn't as if he'd had much physical affection as a child, and he wasn't sure how to deal with a close relationship at all. Draco knew this very well, so he never verbally complained, but it didn't make either of them feel any better about it.

Harry sighed as he saw the Fat Lady up ahead. He would just have to meet with Draco tomorrow at the tree and do _something_. It was time for him to get over whatever was keeping him from being comfortable about this. Six weeks was probably long enough to make his friend wait for him to get over his subconscious fears.

* * *

Harry did manage to meet Draco the next day, just after dinner, regardless of the events of the night before, though he was doing his best not to tremble as he walked down to the tree. The blond was already sitting next to the tree, digging through a large bag of Honeydukes sweets, and he looked up with a smile when he noticed Harry, though it soon faded when he noticed the other boy's state. He pulled Harry down next to him and pressed a Chocolate Frog into his hand, looking mildly concerned. 

"Is something wrong?" Draco asked as Harry accepted the chocolate with a grateful smile and carefully opened it.

"Not really," Harry said after gobbling down the chocolate. "Just a bit shaken."

"Because of last night?"

"Yeah." Harry held the card out to his Slytherin friend with a faint smile. "Do you want it? Ron would kill me if he saw that I'd gotten this one. He still doesn't have it."

"Why not give it to him?"

"He'd ask where I'd gotten it, and you know how bad I am at lying."

"True." Draco shrugged and took the card, looking it over with a brief smile. "Oh good, I've been looking for her, too. So, do you want to talk about it?"

"What?"

"Whatever's bothering you."

"I'm fine, Draco, quit worrying. It isn't like you," Harry answered with an exasperated smile. He looked pointedly at the bag of sweets sitting on the opposite side of the blond than himself. "Is that whole bag for us?"

"No, that's mine. _This_ one is for you." Draco pulled out another bag from where it had been hidden behind the tree, this one just as full as his own. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the sack, staring at it in shock. Sure, Ron and Hermione had gotten him almost just as much, but it meant a lot more coming from Draco, who normally would never do something so selfless unless it benefited him in some way as well.

"You're not serious?" Harry murmured sceptically as Draco set the bag in his lap. "_You_ bought me all this?"

"That is what I just said," Draco replied with an amused smirk. "I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I got you a variety of candy. Most of what Honeydukes offers is in there. Oh, and I might have accidentally put a few Blood Pops in your bag when I was buying them, so if you find any, I'd like them back."

"'Blood Pops'?" Harry questioned, looking thoroughly disgusted as he eyed his bag cautiously.

"Yeah. They're blood-flavoured lollipops, only it was a vampire that originally made them, so they taste like what blood would taste like to a vampire. They're really not as bad as people make them out to be."

"Sounds disgusting."

Draco shrugged as he unwrapped one of his own chocolates. "Like I said, you shouldn't have any, and I'll take any that might have ended up in your bag."

"I won't hesitate to give them back to you, don't worry." Harry wore a concentrated frown as he dug through the bag, finally grinning when he found a Chocoball. "I love these."

"You've had them before?" Draco sounded quite surprised, not quite remembering that Harry's Gryffindor friends had been getting him souvenirs too.

"Yeah, Ron and Hermione brought back a whole pile of sweets for me yesterday. Not quite as many as this, of course..."

"That's good. Can't have the Weasel besting me in anything. Ow!" Draco exclaimed, for Harry had just hit him lightly. "What was that for?"

"That didn't even hurt, Draco. And don't call Ron that! He's done nothing to deserve being called names like that! Hermione either."

"He has! He took you away from me back in first year!"

Harry blushed lightly at this, but didn't notice himself that he had. "Draco, _I_ took me away from you, because you were being a git! But that doesn't matter now, does it? I'm right here, sitting with you, of my own free will."

Draco pouted slightly, though he still kept a deal of dignity in the gesture. "Yes, I suppose that's true. Doesn't mean I can't call him what I like."

"You'll do it around me if you want me to kiss you ever again."

The blond gaped at him for a moment before growling softly in annoyance. "Why weren't you put in Slytherin?"

Harry just grinned slightly in return. "I almost was."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, but I asked it not to."

"What for? Didn't I tell you it's the best House?"

Harry fixed him with a mild glare. "Partially because I didn't want to be near you, but also because Hagrid told me it's the House that all the bad wizards come out of."

"Which isn't true," Draco muttered, looking more annoyed now. "People only think that because it's the House Voldemort was in and nearly all of us are purebloods with similar ideals to his. But that doesn't mean we're evil."

"Look," Harry said, lightly placing his hand over one of the blond's, making said blond freeze, "I never said _I_ thought that, or I that don't know that anyway. A lot of the problem was that I didn't want to be around you. I almost wish I had been sorted into your House now, but then Voldemort probably would have been back two years ago. Of course, maybe Snape wouldn't hate me so much."

Draco chuckled softly at that, smirking at him. "Believe me, Snape still would have hated you. I bet it would have made your life worse too, because he would have stood up for you but it would have been obvious he wouldn't want too. You'd be an emotional mess by now because of blaming yourself for his suffering."

Harry made a slight face at this thought, muttering with disgust, "I never want to feel sorry for him like that. Ever."

Draco chuckled again and started searching through his candy for something. He briefly pulled out a red lollipop, looking at it with a longing expression, before putting it back and pulling something else out. It was a moment before either of them realized that Harry's hand had yet to move, and the blond gladly took advantage of this by interlacing their fingers together. Harry started slightly but didn't try to pull away, just looking apprehensively at their hands.

"Do you want me to let go?" Draco asked softly, easily following Harry's nervous train of thought. The brunet shook his head and managed a faint smile.

"No. I just need to get used to it. I need to get over this anyway, don't you think?"

"Yes."

The Gryffindor snorted softly at the blatant honesty in Draco's voice and his smile got a bit bigger. He just glanced once up at the blonde before looking through his bag of sweets again with his spare hand, definitely looking happier than when he'd first come down to the tree. Draco, of course, didn't much like this, since it was as if he was being ignored.

"Hey, Harry..."

Harry looked over to respond, but before he could get a word out Draco's lips were covering his own. He froze rather than started but slowly relaxed, wondering vaguely why on earth Draco had just decided to up and kiss him, but he wasn't really complaining now. He realized that he'd kind of missed it; it had been two weeks since the last one. He only started getting nervous when Draco suddenly pressed lightly at his lips with his tongue. Wholly unsure on what to do, Harry just did the obvious thing and parted his lips, letting Draco in to explore. And it certainly wasn't a bad experience to have someone else's tongue in his mouth; in fact, it was rather pleasant, but he couldn't bring himself to respond at all.

When Draco finally pulled away, what had happened finally caught up with both of them and they both blushed, Harry much heavier than his blond friend. After a minute or so of just staring at each other in shock, Harry looked away nervously and started picking through his candy again, obviously only half-heartedly. But after another moment, he couldn't ignore the blond any longer and looked back over at him.

"Feel better now?" Harry asked with a nervous smile, not quite meeting Draco's eyes. The blond looked a little bewildered for a moment before he smirked and chuckled slightly.

"Sometimes, Harry, you do amaze me," Draco answered, his own eyes sparkling with amusement.

"'Sometimes'? Does that mean I can't amaze you all the time? Maybe I should work harder then."

"Oh no, you'll never be able to do that. You see, I think about you a lot, and therefore, I usually know how you're going to react or what you're going to do before you do it. That's how I was always able to get under your skin for the past couple of years." Draco gained a mock thoughtful look for a moment before adding, "Although, you're hard to predict when you do something surprising like that."

"I think I'm going to keep surprising you for a while,' Harry answered with a smile.

"You had better. I might just have to leave you if you don't pose a challenge to me any more."

Harry laughed softly, briefly shaking his head, and leaned over to kiss him softly again.

* * *

"I can't believe you!" 

Draco looked up in surprise, confusion evident in his eyes, as an obviously furious Harry stalked toward him through the heavy rain. Well, this certainly wasn't what he had expected when Harry had sent a note asking for this meeting.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, I thought you _enjoyed_ our matches," Harry continued as though Draco hadn't said anything, venom playing on each word, "that playing against me was a _challenge_, but I guess your stupid revenge is more important than the _first bloody match of the year_!"

Comprehension began to dawn in Draco's eyes as he slowly stood up to face Harry. "Are you talking about the Quidditch match tomorrow?"

"Yes, I'm talking about the Quidditch match! The match _my_ team _always_ plays against _yours_!"

"I'm sure your Captain told you–"

"There is _nothing wrong_ with your arm!" Harry growled angrily. "And besides, you could easily play with just one arm! I've done it before, and you're just as good a flier as I am!"

Draco fixed him with a pointed look. "Would _you_ want to play in this weather?"

"Malfoy, you can't just pull out because of the _weather_!" Harry exclaimed, clearly still just as irate as he'd been when he'd walked over. "We have no control over that! Your team is just being cowardly!"

Draco's eyes flashed slightly because of the use of his last name and the insult. "And that would be why we're not Gryffindors. We're not stupidly brave. We know when to back down from a challenge. This is not the weather for a Quidditch match."

"And yet we're still playing." Harry glared angrily at him, impatiently brushing wet hair out of his eyes. "You know, even with the rain, I was looking forward to playing you again. I enjoy our matches; neither of the other Seekers have a clue as to how to play against me."

Draco smirked slightly, though Harry didn't show any signs of noticing this. "Was that a compliment, Harry? I'm flattered."

"Shut it, Malfoy. You're still the sodding bully you were for the last two years. I'll talk to you after the match, maybe."

Draco just gaped at him as he stalked angrily away through the rain, hardly believing that Harry could have just said something like that.

* * *

"Hey, Harry?" 

Harry moaned softly as he slowly woke up, his eyelids fluttering slightly though he really didn't want to open them. His brow furrowed slightly in confusion as he felt a cool hand brushing his hair back from his forehead. It was a comforting gesture, but his drowsy brain couldn't resister to whom the voice or hand belonged.

"Who are you?" he asked sleepily, content to just ignore this person and go back to sleep.

"Draco, Harry. Now wake up. I didn't sneak out of my dorm just to watch you sleep, you know."

Harry smiled slightly and opened his eyes to see a pale blob leaning over him. "You snuck out of your dorm for me? How Gryffindor of you."

"You have no place to talk, my Slytherin friend."

Harry just smiled as he sat up, squinting slight to try to see Draco better. "Could you give me my glasses?" He put them on as soon as they were pressed into his hand. "Thanks."

"You should just get your vision corrected. You'd look much better without them."

"I'd be signing a death wish with my relatives if I did." Harry looked away from Draco with a slightly guilty expression, suddenly very interested with the sheet under his fingers. "Look, Draco, I'm really sorry I yelled at you. I shouldn't have; it was out of line. And you were right; I didn't want to play in the weather either."

"Actually, I thought you had a point."

Harry blinked and looked over at him in confusion but his eyes widened when he noticed Draco wasn't wearing a sling anymore, meaning he'd taken his bandages off.

"You took your bandages off."

Draco looked faintly surprised for a moment. "Yes, I'm publicly celebrating Hufflepuff's victory."

Harry couldn't help but notice that the way the blond had spoken showed he was not at all happy about Hufflepuff's victory, but he still scowled at the bare arm, looking away again. "They deserve the win. Diggory was better than me."

"You fell off your broom because of the dementors. It wasn't fair."

"No, I didn't spot the Snitch until I'd seen he had. I wouldn't have gotten there before him. He won fair and square. Besides," Harry added with a faint smirk, "I doubt you'd put in for a rematch if it had been you instead."

Draco was silent for a moment before he spoke again, his voice a bit hesitant sounding as though he'd never said anything like this before. "So, you're not mad at me?"

"I was never really mad at you. I was just frustrated."

Draco snorted softly. "Yes you were, just not because of the match. And you still are somewhat, because of what I'm doing to Hagrid."

"Yeah, why are you doing that anyway? He hasn't done anything to you."

"I don't like him, and Father doesn't like him."

"Oh, that's a brilliant reason."

"And that oaf should never have been mistaken for the Heir of Slytherin."

Harry looked at him with surprise. As of yet, they hadn't talked about anything that happened in the previous two years of school, and especially not about event like what happened with the Philosopher's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets.

"That's why you don't like Hagrid?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yes. I don't see how anyone could have thought he was the Heir. He wasn't even in Slytherin! You, however, you would have been a good choice, if you'd chosen Slytherin."

"You do know who the Heir is, right?"

"Of course I do!" Draco looked rather offended at the thought that he might not.

"Odd that you think I'm better than him then."

"I said _if_ you'd picked Slytherin. Now you've been tainted with Gryffindor qualities and you'd be no good at it now."

"I would say 'good' but you'd think it was because of those 'Gryffindor qualities'."

"That's probably true."

Harry looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Why did you come to visit me? I wouldn't have expected it."

"Well...I suppose I was...worried a bit," Draco said after a moment, a faint blush rising to his cheeks. "You did fall fifty feet."

"I appreciate it," Harry answered with a smile. Draco hesitantly smiled back, but there was obviously something else on his mind.

"I heard about your broom," he finally muttered. "Is there anything you can do to fix it?"

Harry shook his head and pointed to the few remains of his broom that were sitting on his bedside table. "That's all that's left of it."

Draco nodded and they both fell silent again. It was an uncomfortable silence that neither of them was used to anymore, only broken when the blond spoke first again.

"Harry, when you fell I...it scared me. A lot. I...thought you'd died..."

The brunet looked at him with wide eyes, amazed that Draco could sound so... distressed, especially about him. "Really?"

"Yes, really. You...you're really the first friend I've had. Sure, I have my Slytherin classmates, but they're not really my friends. They never have been; we weren't raised to have friends. So it means a lot to me that you finally wanted to be my friend."

Harry was silent for a minute before he reached over and took one of Draco's hands, smiling at him. "You know, it means a lot to me that you were so worried about me. Thanks."

Draco briefly looked down at their joined hands and then smirked up at Harry. "I still hate Gryffindor. And Hufflepuff even more now, too."

Harry laughed slightly at that, but he frowned when he checked his watch. "Does Madam Pomfrey know you're here?" he asked, looking slightly amused when silver eyes widened.

"No, she doesn't. I guess I should get back to bed." Draco stood and lightly kissed Harry's hand as a gentleman would a lady, causing the Gryffindor to blush. "Do you have practice on Saturday?"

"After that match? Of course we'll have practice, probably for the whole day too. But I'm free on Sunday."

"Great, meet me for lunch, then."

Harry looked slightly surprised. "Doesn't your team need to practice now that your arm's 'healed'?"

"Us? Practice? We don't need to practice. Practice is for half-bloods and Muggle-borns."

"Oh, is that why you always lose against us?"

"Oh, ha, ha," Draco muttered with a dark look at Harry. "Meet me on Sunday."

"I will, as long as Ron and Hermione will let me out of their sights for a while. They've been really protective of me lately, and what happened at the match isn't going to help matters."

Draco nodded and waved once as he walked away to leave. He paused, though, just as he reached the door and spoke briefly before leaving, "You know, Harry, I think we all have been. See you."

* * *

_Dear Ahren, _

_Are you really going to learn how to defend yourself against the dementors? That's really great! I'm quite jealous; I never really liked dementors. I had the displeasure of meeting one once and I really wish I could have done something to get rid of it. _

_I'm sorry to hear about your Quidditch match. My team hasn't had a chance to play yet, but we will in a couple months, and I'd hate to lose like that. You're not out of the running yet, are you? It really wouldn't be fair if you were; obviously, it wasn't your fault that you fell of your broom and missed the Snitch. _

_On a lighter note, do you remember Merak, the boy I've been telling you about? We've been getting along so well! I think he really likes me, though he's a bit slow about the whole 'relationship' thing. I can understand why, so I'm not going to push him, but I really do wish he'd hurry up. Just kissing can wear on a boy's patience a bit. _

_Let me know about that Quidditch match you said is coming up. I'd love to hear about it and how it will affect your team's chances. _

_Rast _

_P.S. Your Defence teacher sounds really fantastic. I wish ours was so nice. She's really crabby and ugly. Everyone hates her. I really hope she never reads this... _

Harry sighed softly as he read over this latest letter from "Rastaban," picking out all the subtle clues that Draco had put in that Ron and Hermione would never be able to figure out. Apparently, Draco was still remembering the incident of weeks ago, since he'd apologized again for it by hoping that Gryffindor would still be able to play long enough to play Slytherin. He'd also revealed that he really did like Professor Lupin, regardless of all the snide comments at the beginning of the year, and that he really _didn't_ like the dementors, and Harry was now certain Draco was jealous of the anti-dementor lessons he was going to take after Christmas holidays. But the real clues to how Draco was feeling lately were in the third paragraph about "Merak."

This was probably the closest Draco would ever come to telling Harry his feelings, because anytime he was asked, he either stuttered out a lie or closed up like a clam and immediately changed the subject. But written, it told Harry a lot, and he really wished he could reassure the blond that he wasn't going to be "slow about the whole 'relationship' thing" any longer, but he couldn't really. He had never been raised to be comfortable with any sort of affection further than a handshake or clap on the back; he got freaked out and embarrassed every time Mrs. Weasley hugged him or did anything motherly, and this was _Draco_ who wanted him to do more; _Draco,_ who had kissed him many times already; _Draco,_ who had completely hated him before that summer. And amazingly, Draco was handing the reigns over to him, Harry, who was already nervous as it was and had no idea what to do to progress this..._relationship_ or whatever they had right now. Harry was not used to having control; all his life, someone else had determined what would happen, and he would have been perfectly happy if that was what Draco had chosen to do as well.

Harry flopped back on his bed and read over the letter again with a frown. He'd already sent a response, and the wonderful match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had happened the previous day, but he still felt a bit uneasy as he remembered what he'd promised in the letter. _"From what you've told me, it sounds like Merak really likes you. I don't think you'll have to wait long for him to do something; maybe he'll even make a move in the next few days."_ But it wasn't only this promise that he was feeling uneasy about; the heads of House would be taking the names of anyone staying over the holidays, and Harry had nasty feeling that he wasn't going to have much company this year. He thought that maybe Ron and Hermione might stay, but Draco, at least, he was sure would have to go home as he didn't have any reason to stay other than Harry and had plenty of reason to go home. Harry knew this very well, but that didn't make him any happier about it. He really wanted Draco to stay. They could spend a lot more time together, like they had in Diagon Alley, but only if the blond stayed.

* * *

"I can't stay, Harry." 

Harry sighed despairingly and nodded, looking sadly away at the half-frozen lake; of course, he had known that, it had been so obvious, but he hadn't wanted to hear Draco say it. He didn't know why he'd even asked.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Draco added, lightly touching the brunet's shoulder. "I'm expected to be home for holidays this year. I was only allowed to stay last year because I would have been in the way at home."

"But you'll send me a present, right?"

"Only if you return the sentiment."

Harry just smiled weakly and looked away again, hugging his arms around himself as though because of the cold. A moment later, he froze as two arms wrapped loosely around his waist from behind, only managing to relax a bit after a minute or two. Draco didn't speak until he felt Harry relax that little bit, and when he did, it was with a sad smile.

"I'm going to miss you."

"I know," Harry answered, looking determinedly away from Draco. The blond sighed softly and poked him lightly in the side.

"Hey, why won't you look at me? Do you really think I'm that ugly?"

Harry's smile was bigger this time, but it faded as he looked back at the blond. "I was pretty sure you wouldn't be able to stay, but...could you come back early? Like, floo back or something?"

"We'll see," Draco answered with a smirk. "You know, you sound like a lovesick girl."

Harry blushed instantly and looked away again with a slight pout. "I do not. I can't; I'm not in love."

"Sure, and that's why you want me to stay while hardly anyone is around."

Harry's blush just grew worse and he determinedly kept his face away from where Draco could see it. "I think the reason for that is so we could hang out like we did right before school."

"We couldn't have a sleepover, though."

"So?"

"So, then, what would be the point?" Draco just smirked when Harry glared at him and continued in an offhand tone, "Well, I know just what to get you now, anyway."

"Oh? I suppose it would be pointless to ask what it is."

"Of course. I'm not going to tell you. But," Draco added, looking a bit more serious now, "I don't want you to be too disappointed if your present comes a bit late."

Harry looked at him with confusion for a moment before giving a small smile. "But shouldn't Malfoys always be on time?"

"Of course Malfoys are always on time, unless we have a very good reason not to be. And this time I may have that good reason. We'll see; just don't expect to get one on time."

Harry nodded and looked away again with a soft sigh, which just irritated Draco again.

"Hey, I bet I could get Severus to help me floo back a day or so early. I'll just tell Father I need to do some extra research before school starts."

Draco grinned inwardly as this finally got Harry to turn around fully in his arms and smile up at him. "Would you? Really?"

"Sure. I'm going to miss you, you know. And maybe we could sneak one of those sleepovers in if I do."

"Thanks, Draco," Harry said with a grin before leaning up to kiss the blond. He pulled away a second later, though, and fixed Draco with a serious look. "But you'd better write me. And tell me if you can't come back early."

"I will, don't worry, Harry." Draco looked thoughtful for a moment and reached a hand up to touch Harry's glasses. "How well can you see without these?"

"You'd look like one big, pale coloured blur. Why?"

"I just wanted to make sure you couldn't hurt me if I stole them," Draco answered as he plucked the glasses off Harry's face and moved away from him.

"Hey! Draco!" Harry scowled and tried to go after the blond, but he was essentially blind without his glasses and didn't get very far for fear of tripping on something. Draco just smirked at him and moved out of his reach, almost absently pulling his wand out of his pocket.

"You really do look better without your glasses, Harry," Draco said before tapping the glasses with the tip of his wand. "_Perpetuus emendo_."

"What did you do?"

"Put them on and you'll see," Draco answered simply as he handed the glasses back to Harry. Harry shot him a suspicious look before putting his glasses back on; at first, nothing seemed different at all, but after about a second the world suddenly became twice as clear as before. Harry's eyes widened as he looked around, taking in everything now that he could actually see like any normal person.

"What did you do...?"

"It was a spell that will automatically correct the prescription on your glasses, so you never have to get new ones."

"This is really amazing...I think the last time a got new glass was when I was nine; Dudley sat on them and completely destroyed them. My uncle wasn't very happy. I haven't seen so well in ages..."

"B-but...that was five years ago!" Draco exclaimed, looking outraged. "You've been wearing the same glasses for five years? How could you still beat me at Quidditch? Your eyesight must have been terrible!"

Harry laughed softly, "Yeah, but you get used to it after a while. This, though...this is so great! I'll be able to see the Snitch even better now! You'll never have a chance to beat me."

Draco's eyes widened and he lunged forward to grab the glasses again, but Harry dodged out of the way with a grin.

"Give me those! I have to take off the charm!"

"No way! I'll be keeping them like this, thank you. Besides, I could always cast the charm again; I heard what it was."

Draco cursed under his breath and glared at the glasses once before turning his back to Harry with a huff to start walking away. Harry bit his lip and grabbed the blond's hand before he got too far, looking at him with a stern expression.

"What's wrong? You know it's not going to make any difference in the long run; you shouldn't get so upset."

Draco glared back at him, tugging fruitlessly at his arm to get it free. "Let go of me."

"Why are you getting so upset?" Harry demanded. "It's not really going to make that much of a difference."

"You just said it was!" Draco retorted, tugging harder at his arms.

"I was joking! I didn't think you'd take it seriously!"

"Well, obviously I must be so dense that I did!" Draco suddenly smirked maliciously. "But you're never going to beat me at Quidditch if you don't get a decent broom. I've seen the piece of junk you've been practicing on; there's no way you'll be able to keep up with me."

This caused Harry to let go of Draco's wrist as his eyes flashed with fury. "What is your problem? Just a week ago you were offering to help me buy a new one, and a Firebolt at that!"

Draco sneered at him, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "What is _my_ problem? What's yours! You're always acting like your better than everyone; you even get top grades and you don't even seem to try! All the teachers love you, except for Severus, and you don't even notice! And I've seen your Quidditch practices; you can even make that stupid Shooting Star do things only a Nimbus class broom could do! How could you possibly be so perfect!"

Harry was definitely caught off guard by this and he took a small step forward, his hand held out slightly. "Draco, I–"

"Shut up! Just shut up and listen, all right? You're so perfect, and you don't even realize it, and you have no idea how much I hate that! Do you even know how many girls wish you would get your head out of the clouds and ask them out? Or guys for that matter, there's plenty of them, too. Even _Pansy_ fawns over you, in a perfectly discreet manner of course! And it's only going to get worse as we get older! Do you know how humiliating it is for a Slytherin to even think of having a relationship with a Gryffindor? It's especially embarrassing when that Gryffindor is you and your father used to be one of Voldemort's most loyal followers!"

Harry's eyes widened as he realized just what Draco's problem was and he took another step forward, this one bigger than the last. "You don't have to–"

"I don't have a choice!" Draco exclaimed, glaring daggers at the lake. "I can't chose who I like and who I don't! Father, of course, would disagree, but that's the way it is..."

"Draco would you be quiet for a moment and come here?" Harry said exasperatedly. Draco stared at him for minute before he stalked back over to stand in front of Harry, hands fisted in his robes and gaze averted to the ground. Harry sighed and pulled Draco against his chest in a loose embrace, leaning his forehead against the other boy's shoulder.

"You don't have to like me if you don't want to," Harry murmured, his eyes firmly closed. "And if you want me to, I'll admit that I'm 'perfect,' even though I don't believe that at all. And I'll try my hardest to be as ready for things like kisses as I can be. But don't yell at me; I get enough of that in my life already, as I'm sure you do. We won't get anywhere by yelling at each other."

Draco was silent and still for several minutes, almost until Harry thought maybe he should just let go and leave the blond to calm down on his own, but then Draco's arms slowly rose to loop around Harry's waist and he was hugging back and taking deep breaths with his nose pressed in raven hair.

"You're right, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lost control like that." Draco sighed before continuing in a slightly smaller voice, "I've just been so frustrated lately...I told you that in that last letter."

"Like I just said, and like I said in _my_ letter, I'm okay with it now...mostly...I mean, you don't have to go as slow as you have been..."

"I could tell..."

"So, are you okay now?"

Draco paused again before speaking, "Yes, I think I'm going to fine. I won't lose control like that again."

"Okay." Harry smiled and pulled away just enough that he could look up at Draco's face. "We should meet one more time before holidays, like next week sometime. Wednesday night, maybe."

"Friday. There's a Hogsmeade trip on Saturday, so we should meet at the last possible time."

"Okay." Harry leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss to Draco's lips before pulling away entirely. "I'll see you then. Good luck on your exams."

Draco snorted softly, looking a tad offended. "Harry, _I_'m the one who should be wishing _you_ good luck; Merlin knows you'll need it."

"I thought I got 'top grades'?"

Draco nodded with a faint smirk as he turned away. "And you naturally have an impeccable amount of good luck."

* * *

Harry felt miserable. He knew he shouldn't–Draco had warned him–but he couldn't help it, especially after Draco somehow knew his birthday and bothered to send him a present then. Christmas holidays were already almost over and he hadn't heard a word from his Slytherin friend since their last meeting. He hadn't gotten a present from Draco yet, nor had the blond sent word about whether he could come back early, nor had he even just sent a friendly fake letter that would show he was still alive. 

He was also a bit angry with Draco, because of what he'd been told concerning Sirius Black. Draco had made it sound like Black had only known where his parents were hiding by circumstance and had nothing more to do with them; oh no, instead, Black had been his parents' best friend and had handed them over. And if Lucius Malfoy had known about what Black did, he certainly would have known about that little detail and told Draco. And Draco hadn't told him.

He really hated when information was withheld from him for his own emotional well-being.

Not only that, but other areas of his life were falling apart as well, and somehow they all seemed to come back to Draco. Hagrid was due to have a hearing over his hippogriff, Buckbeak, in late April, all because Draco wanted to make Hagrid suffer; he was doing a very good job at it, but the unfortunate side effect of this, which Draco had probably not anticipated, was that it made all of Hagrid's friends miserable for him, including Harry.

Harry was also down because he'd received a Firebolt, a real _Firebolt_, for Christmas only to have it taken away hours later because it _could_ have been from Black as a way to harm him. Personally, Harry thought that it was probably from Draco, hence why it had come anonymously, which only made loosing it that much more painful. Even worse was the fact that it was one of his friends that had gotten his new Firebolt confiscated; he felt he was going to be furious with Hermione for a while, at least until he got his broom back (if he did) and maybe even after.

Part of his problem was probably that he'd taken to sitting under his and Draco's tree eating what was left of his sweets from Hogsmeade when he didn't feel like working on Buckbeak's case or playing chess. He knew he probably shouldn't sit there as much as he did, or at all really, because, for one, it was starting to worry his friends, but also because it was just making him more depressed. He couldn't help but remember all of their meetings this year and what they might have been doing if Draco hadn't had to leave, or had come back early. Now, though, he was pretty sure he would just have to wait another week so they could meet the first Saturday after term started. At least he could see Draco before that during classes.

"Happy New Year, Harry. Please don't tell me you've been moping about all through the holidays."

Harry stiffened and looked around, hardly believing his ears. But no, there was Draco, leaning lightly against the tree with his arms crossed, a gift-wrapped tube held in one hand, here a day earlier than all of the other students. Harry gaped at him, his mind completely blank of something to say.

Draco frowned slightly and pushed away from the tree to stand straight-backed like his father always did, looking down his nose at Harry. "You _haven't_ been moping since I left, have you?"

"Ah..." Harry bit his lip and looked away with a blush, wincing slightly when Draco sat down next him with that frown still on his face.

"Didn't I tell you not to? I'm not so sure you deserve this," Draco said, briefly waving the tube in front of Harry's face. Harry winced again but his eyes still followed the movement of the present.

"It wasn't just you, you know. I haven't had a very good couple of weeks," Harry retorted, forcing his gaze away from the present.

"Oh? What happened?"

"Well, first of all, your stupid plan to make Hagrid miserable is working." Draco gained a triumphant smirk until Harry glared at him and continued, "And I got a Firebolt for–"

"You _what_!"

"–for Christmas but Professor McGonagall confiscated it because it could be from Black and jinxed to kill me or something. She wants to strip it down with Professor Flickwick."

Draco turned an odd shade of green, his eyes wide as he stared at Harry. "She's insane. Stripping down a brand-new broom, a _Firebolt_...she should be sent to Azkaban...or St. Mungo's..."

Harry just nodded, not bothering to ask what St. Mungo's was exactly, though he added in an annoyed tone, "Most of my problems really have been because of you."

"What did I do?"

"You didn't write, for one," Harry answered with another glare. "And you could have told me that Sirius Black was my parents' _best friend_ when he killed them."

Draco paled this time, something which Harry had thought impossible. "I didn't want to upset you. You were upset enough when I told you what I did."

"Why didn't you write me at all?"

"I didn't have a chance. In fact, I only just had the chance to ask Severus to let me come back yesterday. Father was keeping me very busy."

Harry sighed and turned his gaze back out to the frozen lake, managing a weak smile. "I'm glad you're back. The castle's been really quite; only three other students stayed, other than Ron and Hermione. I've been kind of lonely."

"Well, now you get to spend the whole day with me, or what's left of it at least, and whenever else you want to," Draco said with a smirk, holding the present out for Harry to take. "I think I've kept this from you long enough, but I couldn't risk sending it through the mail."

Harry carefully tore open the wrapping paper, looking extremely confused when all he found was a rolled up piece of parchment with a box in each top corner–one labelled "Name" and the other with "Password."

"What do I do with it?"

Draco looked bemused and pulled out a second piece of parchment that looked identical to Harry's. "Well, I'm not sure if it will work, but both pieces of parchment should allow us to write to each other in real time."

Harry just looked more confused than before and shook his head slightly as he stared down at his piece of parchment.

Draco sighed dramatically. "I got the idea from Voldemort's old diary, the one he gave the Weasley girl last year. I know you know how that worked; Father told me you're the one that destroyed it."

"Yeah, if someone wrote a message in the diary, it would disappear and Riddle's memory would write back..."

"Exactly. These work a similar way. If you write a message on one parchment, it will automatically reappear on the other. That way, we can write each other without having to use letters, which could be confiscated and interpreted."

Harry nodded but he still had a slight frown on his face. "What's to stop someone else from using these?"

"That's what the 'name' and 'password' boxes up at the top are for," Draco answered, briefly pointing at them. "If you try to use these without putting your name and password in first, it'll make your quill burst into flame."

"Oh..." If anything, Harry looked amused by this.

"Oh, and, if one of us want to talk to the other, we'll write a message down and the other person's parchment will change colours until we respond to the message."

"That's really cool..." Harry looked at him suspiciously. "It sounds like it would have taken all of break to figure all this out..."

"Well, it did," Draco answered with a faint blush. "Actually, it took longer for me to get Father to tell me just how Voldemort's diary worked than it did finding and learning the spells."

"I think it's a really great idea...how do you set the password?"

"The first thing you write it the box will be it. It will automatically reset after two months and you'll have to pick a new one."

"Okay." Harry carefully rolled up the parchment and stuck it into his candy bag only to encounter another piece of parchment. His eyes widened as he pulled it out and he grinned over at Draco. "I did have one good thing happen to me since the last time we met."

"What is that?" Draco asked, warily eying the worn piece of parchment.

Harry just grinned and pulled out his wand, lightly tapping the parchment with it. "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_."

Draco gasped as a map of Hogwarts quickly formed before their eyes. As soon as the entire map was finished, Draco was leaning over it, trailing his fingers over various corridors and making little noises of amazement. After about a minute of this, he looked up at Harry with an odd expression.

"Where did you get this?"

"Fred and George gave it to me the day before term ended so I could go to Hogsmeade without anyone knowing."

Draco looked sharply at him. "You were in Hogsmeade on the last trip?"

"With Ron and Hermione, so no, I couldn't have found you," Harry answered with a nod, looking faintly relieved when Draco turned his gaze back onto the map. Almost immediately, Draco pointed at one of the secret passages Fred and George had pointed out.

"I've never seen this corridor before. Or some of these others..."

Harry nodded and started explaining everything the Fred and George had told him about the map and all the corridors. When he finished, he pointed at the passageway that had its entrance on the fourth floor. "I was thinking we could use this for a second meeting place, like for during the winter or if we can't come here."

Draco stared at him with a suspicious look. "You just said the Weasley twins said it was blocked."

"It is; I went and checked two days before Christmas. But we're _wizards_, Draco. We should be able to clear out the passage and make it stable enough to use."

"And you don't think that the Weasleys will have thought of that?"

"Obviously they either haven't or they couldn't manage it. But will you remember for a moment just _who you are_?"

Draco's eyes widened and he smirked slightly at Harry. "You aren't really admitting that you're more powerful than most everyone else in the school, are you?"

"I thought I just admitted that I think you are."

"Well, it is true, after all," Draco answered with a careless shrug. "But so are you, don't forget."

"And that is exactly why we'll be able to do it."

They stared at each other for a moment until Draco nodded and looked back down at the map, and a second later, he blanched.

"Harry, the Weasleys didn't mention anything about me when they gave this to you, did they?"

"No, why?"

"Because it shows us on here, even when you're not looking for us."

Harry blanched as well and immediately checked this. Sure enough, the names _Harry Potter _and _Draco Malfoy_ were sitting side by side next to a small circle that represented their tree.

"They might not have noticed..." Harry answered, briefly touching the dots.

"Well, you had better ask them about it."

Harry stared at him. "Ask them about it? What if they really don't know?"

"Harry, I know how the twins will react. They're actually the only two Gryffindors other than you that I have any respect for, so I've watched them closely, like I have you." Draco smirked at him, adding with confident eyes, "I don't think they'll tell. In fact, I think they'll react the same way you said Professor McGonagall did."

Harry turned to stare back down at their names, finally nodding once. "I'll ask then. And we'll meet on Saturday, behind the mirror on the fourth floor, okay?"

"Okay."


	4. Part I ChIV Of Discoveries and Quidditch

Background Secrets

Part I: Third Year

Chapter IV: Of Discoveries and Quidditch

Harry spent nearly the entire week trying to think of a way to confront Fred and George in a way that wouldn't give them any clue as to what he was really asking about. Finally, on Friday, he decided he would have to do something, since Draco would be furious if he came back the next day without an answer.

"Hey, Fred, George," he called across the common room that night once he was done with his Potions homework, "could I talk to you for a moment? Outside?"

The twins seemed to exchange significant looks, but they nodded and followed Harry out of the portrait hole and a fair distance down the hall away from the Fat Lady.

"Sorry," Harry said to answer the twins' curious looks, "but I don't want to be overheard by anyone."

The twins just nodded and gestured briefly for Harry to continue.

"Well, it's kind of about the Marauder's Map," Harry started, sounding a bit hesitant. "I was studying it a bit over break and I noticed something a bit...unusual on it. I was wondering if you'd noticed anything while you still had it."

"Like what?" George asked.

"Well…like something that didn't seem right or that shouldn't be there..."

"You mean something like you–"

"–running off to meet with Malfoy at least once a week?"

Harry's heart sank and he paled considerably. "Yeah something like that."

Fred nodded, looking sternly at him, which was quite an odd expression to see him wearing. "Of course we noticed. It was a bit hard not too."

"It's not like you were really trying to keep it hidden. Even Ron's wondered a couple times where you've been sneaking off to."

"Definitely a feat for him, to be thinking about something other than Quidditch or food."

"We followed you once, actually, and you didn't even notice–"

"–But obviously we haven't told anyone–"

"–Well, we told McGonagall, but she said she already knew–"

"–so we didn't worry much about it after that."

Harry looking considerably shocked and he flushed as he thought about what they might have seen when they'd followed him, but otherwise, he was also extremely relieved. "So you don't care that I'm secretly friends with him?"

"Oh, we care–"

"–He is _Malfoy_, after all–"

"–And it's pretty cruel to just stand by while he taunts your friends when you could do something about it–"

"–But we understand why you're doing that–"

"–And obviously you two get along because you haven't killed each other yet–"

"–so we're not going to get in the way or tell anyone."

Harry gave them a relieved smile, though he was feeling bad again for letting Draco taunt his friends without intervening. "That's good. Draco said you'd probably be okay with it, but we wanted to make sure."

Fred looked flabbergasted. "Why would he have thought that?"

"And why are you using his first name?" George added, looking just as stunned.

"Actually, he said you're the only Gryffindors besides me that he has any respect for, so he watches you. And he told me I could use his first name ages ago. He uses mine too."

Both twins looked slightly weirded out by this, and George shook his head in disbelief. "Blimey, I never thought I'd see the day that you and Malfoy would get along so well..."

"Well, neither did I a few months ago, but he's not that bad if you give him a chance."

"We'll just take your word on that," Fred answered, giving Harry an odd look.

"Yeah, just 'cause you think he's alright–"

"–doesn't mean we have to yet."

Harry nodded and gave them and thankful smile. "Okay. Thanks for understanding."

"Sure." The twins gave a nod in return and headed back towards the common room. Before they could get very far, however, Harry caught their arms, a secretive smile on his face now.

"Actually, there's something I could use your help with..."

* * *

Draco paced nervously near the mirror on the fourth floor as he waited for Harry to show up. It was a habit his father had tried to curse out of him, but the Gryffindor was already fifteen minutes late and he could help but regress to how he normally would act. Actually, Snape had walked by once, wondering what he was doing pacing in front of a random mirror on a random floor. Draco told the truth, of course–that he was waiting for Harry–and had the pleasure of seeing the Potions Master's eyes twitch with irritation, but then he was just told to be careful that they weren't seen before Snape went off to stalk down some first years to sneer at. That had been _forever_ ago, and Draco was starting to get worried in spite of himself. Maybe Harry hadn't managed to talk to the Weasleys and was scared that Draco would be mad, or maybe he'd been wrong about how the twins would react and now Harry was locked in the tower with no hope of escape. Draco hadn't been given any clues when he and Harry had written back and forth through their "Instant message scrolls" as Draco liked to call them. 

"Ouch! Fred, that's the fifth time you've stepped on my foot!"

"Sorry, Harry."

Draco blinked and looked around in confusion when he heard the whispered voices, only growing more confused when he didn't see anyone. He was also a bit annoyed now, because he recognized both of those voices and it seemed that the Weasleys had decided they needed to tag along. And here he'd thought the twins would be okay with his friendship with Harry.

Then Harry appeared out of nowhere, smiling nervously at him, and he couldn't be nearly so mad anymore.

"Hi, Draco," Harry said, his voice betraying that he was very nervous. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"You have an Invisibility Cloak?" Draco asked, deciding that if he could lull Harry into a false sense of security, he could get a truthful answer for he real question when it was asked, although he was also genuinely surprised. That must have been how Harry and his friends could sneak around the school without anyone knowing.

Harry blinked and briefly looked at a spot just to his right. "Uh, yeah. It was my dad's; Dumbledore gave to me for Christmas in first year. I thought it wouldn't be a good idea if anyone saw me come up here, since I'd probably have a couple followers and I'd be even later."

"You mean like the two 'followers' that are still under that cloak?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow, though his tone clearly showed that he was not happy.

Harry paled considerably but he managed to give Draco a shaky smile, something which the blond though was undeniably adorable. "Well, I thought they could help..."

"With what? Do you even know how to get into the passageway?"

"Yes!" Harry look vaguely annoyed that Draco hadn't remembered what he'd said. "I told you, I went and checked it over the holiday and it is blocked."

"Which is why you're going to need our help, Malfoy," Fred said as he pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of himself and George.

Harry nodded in agreement, speaking softly, "It looked pretty caved in, Draco. We really don't know any spells that could get rid of all the debris or kept the roof for caving in after we've gotten anything cleared. Fred and George probably know a couple spells that'll help and they know more about the passageway than anyone."

Draco looked incredulously at the twins. "And you don't care that it's me you'll be helping along with Harry?"

George shrugged as he took out his wand and lightly tapped the frame of the mirror with it. "_Admoveo infraterra._ As long as you don't curse us or insult our family, we don't care. We don't have many of our own problems with you; most of them are Ron's."

"So, are we going to be on a first name basis now, or what?"

The twins shared a look. "Maybe..."

"You don't have to use mine if you don't want, but I'd like to be able to get the attention of one of you without getting both."

"What about Weasley 1 and Weasley 2?" Fred suggested with a grin at Harry, who had caught the Dr. Seuss reference with a return grin. Then he shook his head and shrugged. "First names it is then. You're right; it would be easier."

"Although McGonagall has a 'Fred voice' and a 'George voice' so we know who she's scolding."

Both third years looked amused by this, although Draco was looking at the mirror with a soft frown. "So, George, what did you do to the mirror? It looks like nothing happened."

Before George had a chance to answer, Harry grinned at Draco mischievously and stepped forward, raising a hand towards the mirror's surface. "It did do something, and it's brilliant what it did. Watch."

And with that, he walked right into and through the mirror. Draco's eyes widened and he gaped a little more when the twins follow right after Harry. The blond stepped cautiously up to the mirror and tried to touch it, pulling his hand back with a start when his fingers went through the glass. A moment later, Harry's upper body poked back through, his face wearing a playful grin.

"Come on, Draco, there's enough room for all of us."

Draco looked apprehensively at the mirror once Harry disappeared back through, but he took a deep breath, told himself firmly that it was just a stupid mirror and he shouldn't be afraid of something like that, and walked through. It felt like walking through water without getting wet at the same time as having all the molecules in his body pulled apart and then almost immediately put back together again; he was glad when he was through and it was over. The chamber on the other side was a bit cold and damp, and there was only just enough room for all of them to fit comfortably; only about a metre or two was between the mirror and the crumbled rock before them, though he could tell it had once been quite roomy. The fallen rock so close to them definitely looked like a cave in, and to Draco, it seemed a hopeless illusion that they could do anything about it.

"So, what are we going to do in here?" he questioned, looking sceptically at Harry.

Fred had noticed the looks Draco had been giving the crumbled rock and answered with amusement, "Ah, so little faith in us, Mal–uh, Draco. We have thought of a solution that should work."

"We're going to teach you two the Reductor Curse," George said next, ignoring Draco's glare at his brother, "which will help in clearing out all this rubble. . The two of us are going to see if we can keep the ceiling in place once it's all gone, while you two blast it out."

Both Draco and Harry learned the new spell rather quickly, though Draco was definitely better at it, and soon they were blasting away at the piled rock.

"Hey, where are we right now anyway?" Draco asked after a couple minutes of silence as he demolished a rather large boulder above their heads.

"Well, we think we might be under the school–"

"–because really, a place this big couldn't be in the wall behind the mirror. There's a classroom there."

"And the passage doesn't have any stairs on the way to Hogsmeade, except at the end, and those go _up_–"

"–but we've never been sure."

"Oh." Draco looked a little sorry he'd asked.

"Actually," Harry spoke up as he pointed at the wall of the rock to their left where the shadows seemed quite prevalent, "there's a tunnel that leads off of here and connects with the Chamber of Secrets. There's a door at the end that can only be opened by a Parselmouth so you can't necessarily get in if you find this passage."

The other three boys looked at him with surprise. "How do you know?" Draco asked.

Harry blushed lightly as he briefly went over to the wall to trace over a small snake carving with his finger. "I was checking out the damage and found this. So this tunnel must be under the school since it's on the same level as the Chamber."

"That's excellent! We could just use the Chamber to meet in!" Draco suggested enthusiastically, looking confused when Harry winced at the thought.

"Let's not, Draco. We should just keep clearing this place out. I bet it's only caved in right here anyway; further on it'll probably be clear."

Draco sighed heavily and glared at Harry, but he didn't say anything more on the matter.

After that, the four of them worked in relative peace for the next hour or so (not counting the couple of times Draco had 'accidentally' bumped into Harry and had needed to catch him so he wouldn't fall), until Harry finally groaned and slumped to the ground, leaning up against one of the walls of the cavern.

"We're taking a break," he announced firmly, looking sternly at Draco. The blond let out a put-on sigh but nodded anyway and sat down next to Harry, a little closer than he really needed to, then pulled out a handkerchief that was tied up into a bundle.

"Wait, you brought food?"

"Of course I brought food. I didn't know how long we'd be here or what we'd be doing, so I thought I'd play it safe. Of course, I didn't plan on there being more than us here, but I'm sure there's enough. _Engorgio_," Draco muttered as he tapped the bundle with his wand; it grew big enough to hold enough food for a large family. Fred and George's eyes grew wide as they settled on Harry's other side and watched Draco undo the tied corners of the picnic blanket that had been used to hold the food.

"How do you know the Engorgement Charm?" George asked, looking suspiciously at Draco. "We didn't learn that until the end of third year."

The Slytherin glared at him, a hint of pink touching his cheeks. "It was mentioned in a book I was reading a couple weeks ago, so I looked it up on my own."

Harry laughed softly, earning his own glare. "You've been reading Potions books _again_? What happened to the sci-fi book a recommended to you?"

"Why would I read a book written by a Muggle?"

"For the entertainment factor. It was good book, Draco."

"I do read books for entertainment. I _like_ reading Potions books."

Harry shook his head as he grabbed a plate and started piling it with food. "I will never understand that."

"Besides, maybe I'd rather be doing other things than reading all the time, like kissing you."

All three Gryffindors choked at this, Harry blushing heavily and the twins staring accusingly at the two third-years.

"Draco," Harry muttered, his eyes on the ground, "Fred and George don't know about that yet."

"Oh." Draco's eyes widened and he flushed as well. "Uh..."

"So, what's been going on between you two?" Fred asked; he sounded as though he was forcing himself to be casual about it. "I guess you're a bit more than just friends?"

"No! That's not it!" Harry looked a little horrified at the idea, but he couldn't think of anything else to say in his defence. Luckily, Draco had thought this over a good few times and had an answer for Fred, whom he was currently glaring at with still-red cheeks.

"No, we're just two boys who have had hardly any affection in our lives and are now being slammed with the onset of puberty. What else would you expect us to do?"

"Well, kiss a girl, for one thing!" George replied, though he looked more confused than furious.

"I," Draco said softly, his gaze flickering once over at Harry, "have kissed a girl before. A couple actually; there was Pansy, and this cute second-year Ravenclaw."

"Harry hasn't."

"Harry won't, either, if you act like overbearing brothers anytime someone gets close enough to him."

"I'm still in the room, you know," Harry said softly, looking nervous between the twins and Draco. Fred and George were looking at the Slytherin with odd expressions, as if they were both wanted to strangle him and congratulate him for so easily getting past Harry's defences so well.

"Well, George," Fred said after a moment, leaning casually back against the rock again, "we probably should have expected this as soon as we saw that Harry was sneaking off to secretly meet with a supposed enemy."

Both Harry and Draco stared at him, and then at his twin when George nodded and copied the position. "Very true. There is after all a very fine line between love and hate."

"We're not in love!" the two third years exclaimed simultaneously.

George shrugged, smirking at them. "Not yet, but I bet you'll be secretly dating by fifth year."

They gawked at him for a moment before subconsciously scooting away from each other, both blushing at the thought.

"I don't know about that, George..." Harry said softly, picking at his food. "It probably won't last..."

Draco snorted softly and smirked at him. "I think that'll only happen if you manage to make yourself look ugly somehow." Harry brushed deeply at that.

"You know, I'm going to have to disagree with you, George," Fred said with a faint smile. "I'd say at least by Christmas of next year, if not sooner."

"That's not really helping, Fred," Harry choked out; he looked like he might pass out from having so much blood in his head, his face was so red.

Fred shrugged. "It's not anything to be embarrassed about; we were just surprised. It's not even a problem that you're both boys. I mean...well..."

Harry and Draco stared in disbelief as Fred leaned over and kissed his twin full on the lips; George didn't look like he minded either, after the initial start of surprise. In fact, both of them were grinning and looking quite content when Fred pulled away.

Harry gaped at them, almost too stunned for words. "You...you're...but..."

"This is brilliant!" Draco exclaimed with a laugh, looking that the twins in wonder. "You mean you're dating each other?"

"And Lee," Fred answered with a nod.

"Since last year," George added, looking amused at their reactions.

"But...what about...really?" Harry asked, finally sorting himself out.

'Yeah. No one knows except Angelina, Katie, and Oliver–"

"And Oliver's boyfriend in Hufflepuff–"

"And now you two."

Harry started laughing with Draco. "Can you imagine how Percy would react? Or even Ron? They'd both think you've gone mental!"

"Percy and Ron? What about Mum?" George answered, though he didn't look in the least bit worried. "She'd probably disown us if she knew."

Fred suddenly laughed. "Actually, Percy did walk in on us once last year. We had to cast a Memory Charm on him; his memory's never been quite the same since."

Draco suddenly frowned, though Harry was still laughing. "You said Wood's got a boyfriend too. Are a lot of older students homosexual?"

Both twins shrugged. "Well, it's not really something you go up and ask someone, is it? But there probably are. There are probably even a few Slytherins that are gay."

Draco nodded, not looking surprised at all. "Probably."

"Hey, speaking of Slytherin," Harry started with the obvious air of someone wanting to change the subject, "you are planning to win next week, aren't you, Draco?"

Draco smirked, his eyes showing faint amusement at Harry's tactics, and flicked his hair out of his eyes. "But of course. Ravenclaw is nothing. We'll crush them, and so will you, and then we'll have a proper final match for once this year." He glared slightly at Harry as he added, "As long as nothing happens to stop it this year."

Harry blushed lightly, remembering the disasters of the last two Quidditch finals. "I promise I won't get in trouble this time, Draco. I want this match as much as you do."

"Good. I'll hold you to that."

* * *

"I can't wait to see Slytherin get flattened today!" Ron exclaimed happily as he sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, not even noticing the glares directed at him from the Slytherin table and their Quidditch team in particular. 

Harry suddenly looked quite uncomfortable. "Um, actually, Ron, we need Slytherin to win today."

Ron just stared at him.

"Yeah," Harry went on nervously. "See, if Slytherin wins today, and then we beat Ravenclaw in our match, we'll be in the final match."

"And so will Slytherin," Ron pointed out, looking a little deflated.

Harry shrugged, giving him a lopsided, nervous grin. "Well, at least it'll be a good match."

Ron sighed and slumped in his seat and started piling his plate with food. "Well, it's just this once. It's not like we'll have to make a fan club or something."

"Hey, Potter!"

Harry groaned convincingly and twisted around to scowl at Draco, who was smirking at him as he and his team prepared to leave for the locker rooms. He distantly noticed that most of the students had gone quiet, something which Draco had noticed as well, and remembered that it had been a while since they had fought before an audience. Seemed about time for another one, didn't it?

"So Potter, how's it feel to have to depend on me to ensure your place in the final match?" Draco called in his annoyingly condescending way. Harry felt Ron make a move to get up, but he hadn't really had a chance to mess with Draco in public this year, so he held a hand out to stop his friend.

With a smirk, Harry stood and mock bowed to him. "Actually, Malfoy, I've got a lot of confidence in you. I'm sure you'll catch the Snitch."

Draco looked a little unnerved by this, but he quickly regained himself. "Is that so?"

"Oh, yes," Harry answered, inwardly grinned at the shocked faces around the Hall. "It's such a great day outside; you'll have no problems seeing it. And you've had all year to practice, except for those few weeks that you were hurt. It seems like today's your lucky day. I'm sure you'll have no problems in catching the Snitch, as long as you don't feign another injury."

Draco flushed angrily, and Harry could tell that it probably wasn't an act, but he was sure that he'd be able to make it up to the blond later. In the meantime, it was enough to see that he could still get on Draco's nerves before a crowd; he'd been afraid he was out of practice.

"You just wait, Potter!" Draco sneered as his team-mates started leaving the hall. "You're going to regret those words come the final match!"

"I'm sure I will Malfoy," Harry answered with a grin. "But for now, why don't you focus on catching the Snitch for once."

Draco sent him one last glare before striding out of the Hall.

"That was great, Harry!" Ron exclaimed with a laugh as Harry sat back down, clapping him on the back. "He looked like he was about to catch on fire!"

"Yeah," Harry said with a forced grin; he was starting to feel bad for taunting Draco like that. "Maybe he'll do better today just to prove I don't know everything or something like that."

"Maybe. But it was worth it to see that!"

dmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhp

"So, are we rooting for Slytherin today?"

Ron jumped and stared bug-eyed to his right, where Hermione was suddenly sitting. "Where did you come from?"

"Don't be silly, Ron, I've been here the whole time." Hermione looked impatiently at Harry while brushing her hair out of her face. "Well? Are we rooting for Slytherin? I've noticed everyone seems rather subdued about this match."

"Yeah, sucks, doesn't it?" Seamus answered, watching the Slytherins on the opposite side of the field with a sulky expression. Ron had remembered that he wasn't speaking to Hermione and had turned back to glaring at the Slytherins as well.

"Well, it's only this once, isn't it?" Hermione said in what she must have thought would be a sympathetic tone of voice. "Personally, I think Quidditch just increases the amount of animosity between the Houses."

Both Harry and Ron glared at her, but before they could say anything, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the two teams on the field shot up into the air. Harry turned away to watch Draco rise up to a good height above the field so he could look for the Snitch without much interference; Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker, had flown to the other side of the field to look on her own.

Lee Jordan, the Weasley twins' best friend and, apparently, lover, starting commentating as soon as the players touched off.

"And it's Ravenclaw in possession first, today, with Chambers heading for the goals, backed by fellow Chasers Bradley and Davies, who seem to be taking the brunt of the Slytherin assault of Bludgers, and he's looking good, almost to the goal now—and no! It's stolen by Slytherin Marcus Flint, who passes immediately to Warrington, already down the field a ways, heading towards the goal now—excellent dodge of that Bludger—and that one—AND HE'S MADE IT IN! TEN-ZERO TO SLYTHERIN!"

Harry gave a relieved sigh and looked up to where Draco was circling over the field. They both knew that it would be best if he caught the Snitch as fast as possible in this game; Ravenclaw was simply too good a team to beat wholly through goals alone, and the longer they were on the field, the more points they were likely to rack up. It was the same strategy he was going to use in the upcoming Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match—if it actually mattered by then.

"AND RAVENCLAW SCORES! IT'S NOW A TEN-TEN TIE!"

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts to watch Davies, who had scored the goal, high-five one of his fellow team-mates as they passed each other and started to follow Montague, a Slytherin Chaser, who now held the Quaffle.

"Slytherin in possession, Montague with the Quaffle, and there's no one near him! Is he going to get to the goal posts unchallenged? NO! A Bludger came out of nowhere, smashing into his broom, and he's dropped the Quaffle to be caught by—Bradley, Bradley of Ravenclaw, now swerving his way up the field—he's very nimble in the air there—will he get it past—YES! BRADLEY SCORES, AND IT'S TWENTY-TEN RAVENCLAW!"

A huge cheer came from the Ravenclaw section of the stands while the Slytherins and Gryffindors groaned simultaneously, through the Gryffindors were a bit quieter about it. A second cheer erupted when, taking advantage of the Slytherin Keeper's confusion at being passed, Davies scored another goal for Ravenclaw. Harry thought for a second he saw Draco look down at his fellow team-mate in concern, but when he looked properly, the blond was back to searching the skies again.

The game only got worse for the Slytherins. After fifteen minutes, they'd only scored three more times, whereas Ravenclaw now had one-hundred fifty points on the board. It almost seemed useless to hope that Slytherin might still win when Draco sudden dived toward the ground.

"And Malfoy's suddenly on the move, heading straight down, he seems to have spotted the Snitch! Chang's right on his tail, but Malfoy's Nimbus Two-Thousand and One is a superior broom, she's got no hope of catching him, and–what's this!"

Draco had suddenly pulled out of his dive, not a metre from the ground. Cho Chang didn't have nearly the same manoeuvring abilities on her Comet Two Sixty and couldn't pull out soon enough—she slammed straight into the ground while Draco flew back up into sky and continued searching for the Snitch.

"Malfoy pulls off a spectacular Wronksi Feint, sending Chang crashing to the ground! The Ravenclaw team seems to be crowding around to see if she's alright–they'd best be getting back to the game, unless–yes, there's the whistle for a time out!"

Now that there was a time out, Davies touched down onto the ground and hurried over to make sure his Seeker was alright, although Madam Hooch had landed at the same time and was currently trying to get him out of the way so she could examine Cho herself. Madam Pomfrey suddenly came bustling onto the pitch, and Harry saw Draco glance down at her, looking like he almost felt guilty about what he'd done, but the expression was gone almost instantly. Madam Pomfrey shook her head and waved her wand over Cho's body, making the girl levitate to about her waist level, and began guiding her out of the stadium, carrying her broom in one hand.

"It seems the Ravenclaw Seeker has been completely debilitated and is being taken out of the game!" Lee announced, instantly earning enraged shouts from the Ravenclaws and cheers from the Slytherins. "And it seems Davies won't get back on his broom!"

Harry glanced back down at the pitch. Indeed, Davies and Madam Hooch seemed to be having a shouting match; Harry guessed that Davies was angry that his Seeker was being taken out of the game, making it very likely that his team would lose; at least, the match would now have to end with Draco catching the Snitch and the blond could now choose when to catch it so his team would win. Harry almost sympathised with the Ravenclaw Captain, since he knew he would hate to have a match turn out this way. Madam Hooch was standing her ground, though, and after another minute, Davies got back on his broom and flew angrily back into the game, followed a moment later by Madam Hooch.

"Davies is back in the air again, lucky to have not been taken out of the game himself, I think–and there's the whistle! Ravenclaw in possession, Bletchley headed for the goal–"

"Do you think she'll be all right?" Hermione asked worriedly as Madam Pomfrey disappeared from the stadium with her charge.

"She'll be fine," Harry answered, his eyes already fixed on the game again and too distracted to remember that he wasn't speaking to Hermione either. "Madam Pomfrey can fix anything, short of a coma. And Dr-Malfoy wouldn't have done that if he'd thought she'd get seriously hurt."

Ron eyed him suspiciously. "Did you almost call Malfoy 'Draco'?"

Harry looked at him, startled and trying not to blush. "No, of course not. I just rethought what I was going to say in the middle of the word."

"Oh. All right." Ron looked sufficiently relieved as he turned to watch the match again, though Hermione was still looking at him suspiciously. Harry didn't notice this, since Ravenclaw had just scored again.

What followed was certainly a valiant effort by the Ravenclaws to salvage their chances of winning the game, as they scored another two times in the next five minutes, but it was really too late for them to do anything about their chances.

A second after Chambers had scored, making it one-eighty to forty, Draco dived again, headed for a spot near the Ravenclaw goal posts. Harry squinted to see if he could see the Snitch, and there it was, hovering about five metres above the ground. Harry had to try hard to keep himself from cheering Draco on as he got closer and closer, while his team-mates did their best to keep Ravenclaw from scoring again. The tension in the stadium was almost palpable as Draco easily swerved around the two Bludgers sent his way by the Ravenclaw Beaters, as well as Davies when he came hurtling out of nowhere, as though he had a sixth sense that allowed him to know just where they were they were going to come from. He reached out when he was almost there, swerved again to avoid another Bludger, and grabbed the Snitch before it could escape him.

The Slytherin side of the stadium immediately exploded in cheers.

Draco grinned as he held up the Snitch for everyone to see as Madam Hooch blew her whistle, announcing that the match was over. Lee was laughing happily into his magical microphone.

"AND SLYTHERIN WINS, ONE-NINTY TO ONE-EIGHTY!"

"C'mon, Harry," Fred said with a grin as he started tugging a startled Harry into the crowd of Gryffindors leaving the stands, separating him from Ron and Hermione. "We're going to have a party in the common room."

"And we can stall for you if you want to go congratulate your boyfriend," George added in a whisper in Harry's ear, making him blush heavily.

"Draco is not my boyfriend," Harry hissed back, glancing around to make sure no one had heard him.

Fred and George just glanced knowingly at each other as Harry pushed his way through the crowd to get out of it and away from them.

* * *

Harry had just stepped into the dorm late that night, stuffed with butterbeer and Honeydukes sweets, when the parchment on his nightstand began to glow and change colours, starting with red and going right through the spectrum. Harry looked shocked for a moment before he remember just what the parchment was for through his sleepiness, but as soon as he did, he hurried over to grab the parchment and hide behind the curtains on his bed in case one of his dorm mates came up as well. He only briefly looked over Draco's message, which was the same as always, before signing in his name and password so he could write back. 

**Hey, Harry, are you there?**

_Hey, Draco. Bit late, isn't it?_

Harry could almost hear Draco snort of indignation before his words appeared on the parchment. **Not really. I've been waiting for an hour.**

Harry's eyes widened slightly. _An _hour

**Yes. Where were you?**

_We had a party in Gryffindor._

**Ah.**

_Congratulations, by the way. You were incredible! The Feint was a brilliant idea._

**Of course it was. It worked perfectly, too. I don't think Chang will be in classes on Monday.**

_Probably not._

Harry sat back and waited patiently for Draco to respond for a couple minutes, going over the game in his head, especially when Draco caught the Snitch. The Feint really was a grand idea, even if Cho Chang might have to be in the hospital for a couple days. In fact, he was so absorbed in his thoughts that he jumped when words suddenly appeared on the parchment.

**Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? Are you free?**

_Actually, Oliver said we're going to have Quidditch practice five nights a week, starting tomorrow._

Harry winced slightly when Draco didn't respond immediately; he'd had a feeling the Slytherin wouldn't like that news.

**But it won't be all day, will it?**

Harry gained a slightly sheepish look on his face, even though he knew Draco couldn't see it, as he answered. _That's what he's planning on._

**But it's the day after the match! And does he realize that only gives you one day to do all of your homework?**

_I doubt it. I think he's more concerned with our match and getting my Firebolt back from McGonagall than anything._

**You haven't gotten that back yet?**

_No, McGonagall says they're still checking for hexes on it. Personally, I wish they'd just give it back and let me test drive it to see if there are hexes. It'd be more effective._

**It would probably also get you killed. And it might be hexed in a way that you won't know until you're in a match.**

Harry frowned slightly. _You're not on their side are you?_

**Merlin, no. In fact, I'd test it for you myself. But if it's hexed, it probably _would_ get you killed. That's usually why people put hexes on gifts.**

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before writing hesitantly: _I might be able to come to the Mirror tomorrow._

**Really?**

_I'll see if I can sneak over right after practice, all right? The twins can cover for me._

**If you were down here with me, I'd kiss you right now.**

Harry blushed faintly. _Do you really want to see me that much?_

**Of course. You have to properly congratulate me for winning the game, after all. I expect you to bring lots of butterbeer and Chocoballs, and you wear those clothes I bought you in August.**

_Draco! I'm going to be coming from Quidditch practice! Bring them yourself!_ Harry pointedly ignored the comment about the Muggle clothes; he'd brought them to Hogwarts, of course, but he'd never planned to wear them while he was at school.

There was a rather lengthy pause before Draco wrote back. **Bring some of your homework, then. We're going to small a short study session so you don't get behind.**

Harry blinked and a thankful smile broke out of his face. _Okay._

**And a copy of _Which Broomstick_. We're going to see about getting you a new broom while we're at it. I'll even lend you mine if it comes down to it.**

_Fine._ Harry wrote back with a soft sigh. _But I'm not going to buy one until I'm sure I can't have that Firebolt back_.

**I thought you'd say that. We'll still look.**

Harry rolled his eyes slightly. _Fine._ He suddenly yawned largely, and a second later, heard someone shuffle into the room and flop down onto the bed next to him.

"Night, Ron," he said automatically, although he didn't expect a response; he could tell by the soft snores coming from Ron that the redhead had fallen asleep to moment he'd flopped into bed.

_Hey, I need to get to bed,_ He wrote as he yawned again. _See you tomorrow?_

**Definitely. You'd better show up.**

Harry chuckled softly, careful not to be heard by the other boys who were wondering into the dorm. _I'll try my best. Good night._

**Night, Harry.

* * *

**

"Where are you going, Harry?"

Harry froze and turned slightly to stare wide-eyed at the girl who had spoken; trust Hermione to catch him when he was sneaking off to meet with Draco. As if he needed another reason to be mad at her.

"It's none of your business, Hermione," Harry answered with a glare, moving to turn away again and leave, but he stopped when a hand caught his arm and held him back.

"It is most certainly my business, Harry Potter," she said, sounding almost like Mrs. Weasley, Harry reflected. "If you're caught sneaking around after curfew, you'll cost us House points."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned back around to face her, deliberately checking his watch. "Curfew isn't for another hour, Hermione. And I wasn't sneaking around!"

Hermione settled her hand on her hips as she glared at him. "Well you weren't headed for the common room. It isn't in that direction."

"I was going to the library," Harry answered defensively.

"No, you weren't. I saw you pass right by through the windows." Hermione's eyes flickered once over Harry's body and she added critically, "You didn't even put back that broom you're borrowing."

Harry sighed and held his hands out in surrender; maybe he could tell her enough of the truth that she wouldn't suspect him of anything anymore. "Fine, you're right, I'm not going to the library or the dorms. I was going to meet Fred and George for a...project."

Hermione's eyes narrowed slightly, though her stance relaxed a bit. "What project?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "We're trying to clear out the passage on the fourth floor. They couldn't do it on their own, and neither could I, so we're teaming up on it."

"You're not going to keep sneaking off to Hogsmeade, are you?"

"I was planning on it," he answered with a small shrug; maybe if he acted like it wasn't a big deal, she would care as much either. It didn't seem to work.

"Harry, if you sneak out again, I'm telling Professor McGonagall," she said stearnly. "You're going to get in a lot of trouble if you're caught, and you could get hurt…"

Harry smile faintly and shook his head. "I'm not going to use this one to go to Hogsmeade. Fred and George might, and probably will, but I wasn't going to."

Hermione eyed him suspiciously. "Then why do _you_ want to clear it out?"

"Well, it's always nice to have another place to go to within the school, a private place that doesn't have a whole lot of people staring at me," he answered with another shrug, though he couldn't quite meet her eyes. "And actually, there's an entrance to the Chamber of Secrets down there, so I can keep an eye on it."

The bookworm frowned disapprovingly, but held out her hands in surrender. "All right, but you'd better be in the Tower by curfew."

Harry grinned and quickly gave her a tight hug before dashing off. "Thanks, Hermione!"

He knew that he hadn't put off Hermione's suspicions for long, but he was sure he could deal with her later and convince her that he really wasn't doing anything more suspicious than digging out a caved-in secret passageway. As for right now, though, he was late in meeting Draco, and he probably wouldn't be too happy about that.

dmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhpdmhp

Draco gave Harry a rather well deserved glare, he felt, as Harry stepped into the cavern. It didn't matter that he was panting, showing that he'd obviously run to get her, or that he had an extremely sheepish look on his face, so he knew that he was at fault. No, Harry had made him, Draco Malfoy, heir of the Malfoy line, wait for fifteen minutes before showing to a meeting that was extremely important to him. One simply _did not_ make a Malfoy wait, especially for something important like this.

"You'd better have a good explanation for being late Harry," Draco said softly after a moment, smirking mentally when Harry ducked his hand. Good, let him feel sorry for making him wait.

"Sorry, Draco," Harry murmured softly, sounding truly sorry. "I really did try to get here on time, but Oliver kept us in practice a bit too long, and Hermione stopped me in the hall."

Draco's eyes narrowed slightly. "What did she want?"

"Well, I think she's noticed that I keep sneaking off and finally decided to ask me about it." Harry shrugged slightly. "Doesn't matter if she gets curious though. I keep the map on me at all times, and she seemed to believe the excuse I gave her tonight."

"What did you tell her?"

"Nothing but the truth. Well, only half of it, really. I didn't say anything about you."

Draco suddenly smirked and sat down against the wall, gesturing Harry over. "You really would have been a good Slytherin, Harry."

Harry grimaced slightly as he sat down, though it was obviously just a teasing gesture. "Yeah, I know. It gives me nightmares," he added, easily dodging Draco's arm when it came at him. "I brought the food you wanted, by the way, though the twins seemed to think I was getting it to...seduce you or something when I asked them for it."

Draco snorted softly as he took Harry's bag to look through it. "I don't know why they thought the. If anything, it would be _me_ trying to seduce _you_."

Harry blushed heavily as he accepted a bottle of Butterbeer the blond handed to him. "That's nice to know."


	5. Part I Ch V Hostility in Truth

Background Secrets

Part I: Third Year

Chapter V: Hostility in Truth

"Draco! Draco! Look!" cried Harry as he burst into their secret chamber where the blond was already waiting, since Harry had asked him the pervious night to be here at lunch. The chamber itself looked rather different than it had a month ago. It was almost completely cleared out now, though they were debating on whether they really wanted to finish clearing it, since they did have a small hole through which they could get to Hogsmeade. Also, the chamber was now decorated with Slytherin colours (Draco had insisted, claiming that Gryffindor colours made him sick and that they were all more Slytherin than anything else anyway), though the twins and Harry had managed to sneak in a bit of red and gold here and there. A couple weeks before, the twins had brought Oliver in so he could have another place to meet with his boyfriend and he'd been kind enough to transfigure a bit of the wall into a large fireplace and a few boulders into cosy green armchairs and a sofa. Fred and George had managed to turn a couple more boulders into tables and a single bed, though Harry didn't have the courage to ask what that was for. And Draco had added his bit in too; he'd taken the liberty of painting the words "CHAMBER OF SECRETS" in bold letters, as well as a little snake, on the bit of wall that led into it and had charmed the paint to slowly change from silver to green to red and back every few minutes.

Draco looked up calmly from the book he'd been reading just in time to move out of the way when Harry leapt onto the sofa next to him and held out what he had brought with him. The blonde's expression quickly changed from confusion to shock when he saw that it was a broom–no, _the_ broom he and Harry had gaped at for days on end in Diagon Alley. He grinned up at Harry, who was beaming with pride.

"You got it back?" he asked softly, as though speaking any louder would shatter reality and make the Firebolt disappear. Harry nodded enthusiastically and pressed the Firebolt into Draco's hands so he could take a better look at it.

"Professor McGonagall gave it back to me last night, and I would have come and found you right away, but I ran into Ron," Harry explained as Draco's eyes critically ran over the broom. "I can't wait to fly it tonight at practice!"

"I wish I could see you fly it tonight instead of having to wait until tomorrow like everyone else," Draco murmured wistfully as he turned the broom over in his hands.

"I want you to be there."

Draco was so startled that he almost dropped the Firebolt on the ground. "You do?"

Harry suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable, but he nodded as he answered softly, "Yeah. It just wouldn't feel right without you there. I mean, you cared the most about the Firebolt and...I...I care a lot about you. You're almost a better friend than Ron. I...really want you to be there."

Draco smiled and leaned forward to press a brief kiss on Harry's lips while placing the Firebolt back in the brunet's hands. "Thank you," he murmured against Harry's lips. "I promise I won't tell my team anything that I see."

Harry smirked and looked sternly at him. "You'd better not. I'll know if you do."

* * *

Draco narrowed his eyes at the mirror that lead back up to the fourth floor as he waited for Harry to show up. It had been several days since Sirius Black's attack, and Draco had heard almost nothing from his Gryffindor friend, except for when they'd written to each other briefly the previous night and Draco had convinced Harry to meet with him tonight after his anti-dementor lessons with Lupin. Of course, he hardly expected Harry to turn up, since he was should Harry could tell last night that Draco was furious with him and only half-heartedly said he would come.

However, after only about five minutes of waiting, Harry stepped into the chamber and paused to pant heavily just inside, not noticing the way Draco's eyes bored into the top of his head.

"What's been going on, Harry?" Draco asked softly after a moment, using the same quite tone that Snape used when he was infuriated. Harry looked up at him in confusion and not a little fear.

"What do you mean?"

Draco's eyes narrowed; had he really been _that_ clueless? "Why didn't you write or come talk to me after Black broke into your dorm?"

Harry blinked and cocked his head in confusion. "Why would I? You know that I didn't get hurt. He didn't even come after me, and he left before he could do anything more violent than slashing Ron's curtains."

"It doesn't matter," Draco growled out. He glared fiercely at Harry, obviously feeling more emotions than he was willing to show. "I didn't know it _then_, and I wasn't even sure you were really okay until Tuesday when I heard Pansy talking about it." He laughed bitterly. "Imagine, I had to hear it through that...scum as gossip when you could have easily told me yourself."

Harry frowned slightly, starting to get a little annoyed. Did Draco really think he couldn't take care of himself, like the rest of the school did? "Maybe I didn't trust you to know."

The blonde stared, bewildered. "What?"

"Maybe I didn't trust you to look out for my safety when you obviously didn't care at the Quidditch match." Harry looked angrily back at him, feeling the annoyance from the match build up again. "I can't believe you tried to sabotage me like that! You know I pass out around dementors!"

Draco seemed shocked that his prank had been received so poorly and took a step forward, hand outstretched. "Look, Harry, I was just trying to help–"

"No, you weren't," Harry growled in answer, taking a step back. "You couldn't have been. No real friend would put someone at danger like that."

"Well, no real friend would keep mortal danger a secret like you did," Draco retorted, now angry both for the original reason and because he'd been put off so bluntly.

"You don't need to know about everything that happens to me, Draco."

"I do if it involves the possibility of you getting hurt somehow!"

"I wouldn't have gotten hurt!"

"How would I know that if you never came to talk to me?"

Harry growled and turned away from him, glaring at his reflection in the mirror. "You know, I was going to tell you an idea I had during the match, but I don't know if you deserve to know now."

Draco blinked and immediately looked interested and innocent again. "What idea?"

Harry sighed and looked warily back at him for a moment before answering, "I thought of a way to keep people from thinking we're friends and...together until we want them to know."

Draco smiled faintly. "So? What is it?"

"I was thinking that we could pretend to like a couple girls–obvious ones that no one would question–and pretend to go out with them and stuff." Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "I know it won't be fair to the girls we pick, but it was all I could think of."

"Thinking like a Slytherin," Draco approved with a nod. "Did you have anyone in mind?"

The brunet smiled slightly, glad that his friend hadn't immediately shot down the idea. "I was thinking of Parkinson for you, and maybe I could try going for Cho Chang from Ravenclaw. You know, their Seeker."

This time, Draco flushed angrily, though he tried not to be obvious about it. "You mean that pretty, black-haired, half-blood fourth year?"

"Yeah, that's who I was thinking of. Is that a problem?"

"Yes, that's a problem."

"Why?" Harry asked, trying hard to stay calm, but feeling his earlier anger coming back. Draco muttered something that he couldn't quite hear and had to be asked, snappishly, to repeat it.

"I said, 'What if you start really liking her and not me any more?'!" Draco growled out, turning away so Harry couldn't see the hurt look that he couldn't quite hide.

The Gryffindor snorted softly and crossed his arms. "Do you honestly think that could happen?" His eyes narrowed when the blonde nodded once. "Then you obviously don't know me very well."

"I know you well enough!" Draco retorted, clearly offended.

"Really? Do you know my favourite colour, or food, or the names of my relatives?"

Draco flushed angrily and looked away, muttering softly, "No, I don't."

"Then how could you know the deeper things, like my morals and loyalties? Even as my rival, you should have been about to pick out the more superficial things."

"Oh, really?" the blond retorted, clearly annoyed that this argument wasn't going his way. "Were you able to pick out all that stuff?"

Harry smirked and nodded. "Your favourite colour is light blue, even though you try to make it seem like its green because that's a Slytherin colour. You're favourite food is roast beef, though you also really like that baked spaghetti dish we get occasionally. In the morning before breakfast, you take a shower and spend ages, I bet, doing your hair so it looks perfect, and you take another one at night before going to bed unless you're writing to me or the teachers assigned an insane amount of homework." He shrugged and gave Draco a critical look. "I could give you more if you like."

Draco was gaping at him. "How do you know all that?"

Harry scowled at him. "I was paying attention. Actually, most of that I learned last year while Hermione, Ron, and I thought you were the Heir of Slytherin. Of course, that didn't last long, but–"

"You thought _I_ was the Heir?"

"Yeah, but we asked you about it, and you didn't have a clue, so–"

Draco frowned slightly. "What do you mean you asked me about it? We were enemies last year, Harry. You never said anything to me about it."

Harry flushed slightly and looked away, looking very unnerved all of a sudden. "Well, uh, well...we, uh, made the Polyjuice Potion and Ron and I disguised ourselves as Crabbe and Goyle using it so we could sneak into the Slytherin dorms and ask you about it. It was during Christmas break."

Realization dawned in Draco's eyes and in seconds he looked furious. "You're the reason the Ministry raided our house so many times last year! Father thought it seemed like they knew exactly where to look!"

"Well, we _were_ enemies last year," Harry said in defence, "and it was Ron who told his dad, not me."

"Is there anything else you've done to me in the last couple years that I should know about?" the blonde growled out, staring fiercely at his rival, who merely shook his head. Draco looked coolly at him for a moment before stepping back a bit to lean against the arm of the sofa. "Well, Potter, it seems you and I have hit a bit of snag."

Harry snorted softly and gave him a very cold look right back. "No, really,_ Malfoy_? I thought it was just my imagination."

Draco sneered at him and shifted a bit so he looked like he was standing a bit straighter, making sure to keep hold of Harry's gaze with his own. "At the moment, I cannot stand your presence," he said, using a commanding tone that Harry had never heard before; he shuttered slightly as he felt the magic of the chamber shift around them.

"At this time, we cannot get along, and will not as long as we interact," Draco continued, his eyes closing. "I call a time of isolation from one another until the time that the High, the Wild, and the Old Magic feel we can cope with one another once more."

Harry coiled in on himself as he felt unfamiliar but very powerful magic fill the room and swirl around them. He looked frantically up at Draco, who looked as calm as ever. "What's going on, Dr-Malfoy?" He looked startled when he couldn't get his friend's first name out at all.

The Slytherin smiled coolly and made an absent gesture at nothing. "It's a pureblood rite that a wizard invokes when his fury won't let him see clearly. I suggest you go look it up later, once you get out of my sight."

Harry flinched at the words as the magic around them suddenly came to a stop and seemed to disappear. However, he still couldn't help but feel angrier at Malfoy now, and as soon as he felt it was proper, he glared one last time at his ex-friend and left the chamber without looking back.

Draco sighed softly as he watched Harry go; he hadn't wanted to do it, but they really did need time away from each other. Neither of them seemed to understand the other at all. Maybe he could figure out all those things about Harry that the Gryffindor knew about him during this time, and maybe Harry could figure out just why Draco had been so upset about Black's break in. He need they both needed this time. He just really, really hated it.

* * *

Harry suddenly slammed his quill down on his Transfiguration essay and buried his face in his hands, ignoring for the moment Ron's concerned questions. He just wasn't sure how long he could take this; it was sure to drive him crazy, and it had only been a couple days. Ever since their fight, he could do nothing but think of Malfoy; about how irate he was at the blond, about how Malfoy hated Transfiguration and that it was the only class he ever seemed to procrastinate in, about his laughter when Harry complained about this and other things or just tried to make him laugh. Anything he thought about brought him back to the other boy and then swirled around to bring up even more thoughts about him until he couldn't concentrate on anything else. It was not only starting to become annoying, but was also starting to affect his schoolwork. Several times he'd had to cross out Malfoy's name when he'd accidentally written it on his homework, though he was lucky it had only been in Potions and Transfiguration so far. He was sure that this hadn't happened to him before their fight, and yet, whenever he tried to remember, he remembered times he and Malfoy had shared in the past instead whether, good or bad.

And he couldn't get over the fact that not only did he have to think about Malfoy all of the time, he'd also somehow been stripped of the ability to use his first name. Oh, and he'd certainly tried. Several times since the fight, he tried to think or speak Malfoy's first name only to find that his mouth preferred not to anymore. It was all so confusing.

"Harry?"

He jumped almost violently when Ron's voice whispered anxiously in his ear, so caught up as he was in his thoughts of the blond Slytherin. He quickly smiled instead, but he could tell Ron was still worried.

"I'm okay, Ron, just a little tired." He glanced at his watch and started gathering up his papers. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

Ron nodded with a faintly concerned look. "All right. I'll be up in a few minutes."

"Okay." Harry gathered his stuff together and headed up to the boys' dormitories. However, as soon as he'd dropped off his homework on his bed, he headed up to the fifth-year dorm to look for Fred and George or Lee. He needed to talk with them.

When he got there, he wasn't surprised to see the door was closed, since there were two fifth-year boys looking disgruntled sitting down in the common room, and knocked hard on the wood. He gained an amused smile when he heard cursing on the other side from whomever he'd woken up or bothered, at least until he decided that Malfoy would probably do the same thing in either his or the other person's situation. After a few moments, the door opened a crack to reveal a rather dishevelled Fred Weasley, who looked rather annoyed until he noticed Harry.

"Hey, Harry, what is it?" he asked with a light grin. Harry couldn't bring himself to smile back.

"Could I talk to you for a bit? It's about Malfoy."

"Who is it, Fred?" called someone inside, Harry guessed George. Fred's head disappeared for a moment as he replied something Harry couldn't hear.

"Well, tell him to wait for us to get some pants on," was the reply, from Lee this time. Harry blushed fiercely at the thought of what they might have been doing that required having no pants. Fred grinned wider when he noticed and pulled the door open wider for Harry.

"It's safe to come in now."

"Thanks," Harry squeaked out as he followed the Weasley twin inside, face still beet red. Fred closed the door behind him and led him over to one of the beds, where George and Lee were waiting. George gestured to the space between the two of them, which Harry quickly took, while Fred sat at the end, on Lee's other side.

George was the first to speak. "So, what's been going on? Fred said it was something to do with Draco?"

Harry couldn't help but be jealous that the twin could still use Malfoy's first name, but it still quickly brought him back to reality and helped the blush fade. "Yeah. We had a huge row last Thursday, and since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about him. Anything I think about or do or say seems to relate to him somehow. And I haven't been able to use his first name at all either, even when I'm thinking about him."

The three fifth-years gave each other significant looks but said nothing more than, "Could you tell us everything about the fight?" which came from Lee. Harry nodded and proceeded to tell them everything that had happened, careful not to leave anything out. When he came to the pureblood rite, he had to pause for a moment to make sure he got the wording right. When he finished, Lee was looking rather confused, but Fred and George were nodding slightly to each other.

"We know what happened," George said after a moment. "I'm kind of surprised though. You two seemed to be getting along pretty well."

"The rite he used is called the Insularis Rite," Fred continued, "which is good. He could have used the Castigatus Rite."

"But what does it do?" Harry asked, almost a bit impatiently. He could care less what it was called.

"Well, they both do something similar, which is to compel two wizards to stay away from each other for a certain amount of time. But," George added quickly when Harry looked distraught, "that's really the only thing that's the same. You see, Castigatus forces the other wizard out of your thoughts and works almost to the point of you not being able to see him or her at all. Usually, only Dark wizards use it–"

"But Insularis was created by Light wizards," Lee interrupted, looking almost as confused as Harry. "Why would Malfoy use it? His family has been declared Dark since the days of the founders."

"He wouldn't use Castigatus on Harry. I've seen to way they look at each other. Personally, I'm amazed they're even fighting this badly."

"So what does the Insularis Rite do?" Harry asked insistently, his face bright red at Fred's comment. "Does it just make me think about him all the time but want to avoid him?"

"That's the basic idea of it, yeah," Fred answered with a shrug, as though it were no big deal. Harry obviously didn't think so.

"But I won't be able to do anything!" he protested angrily. "Everything reminds me of Malfoy, even homework!"

"That's the point," George answered patiently. "The Insularis Rite forces you to think about the other wizard all of the time, no matter what, so you can learn more about him and figure out why you really had the fight. It works to the point of you becoming hyperaware of the other wizard, so you may start to know where Malfoy is, what he's doing, and how he's feeling even if he's down in the dungeons and you're up here. It's for both of you to understand each other better–"

"–which you two obviously need or he wouldn't have done it."

Harry frowned slightly. "That doesn't explain why I can't use his first name."

"That's a side effect. I think it's to eliminate any familiarity between you two, so you can make conclusions based on observation and not friendship."

Harry gave a soft groan and glared at the floor, cursing Malfoy several times in his head. "So, when can I _stop_ thinking about him?"

"When you both understand each other well enough to kiss and make up."

"Malfoy's never going to apologize," Harry muttered with a glare at Fred's slight grin, his cheeks turning slightly red in spite of himself.

"You never know," Lee said with a shrug, looking slightly bewildered that he'd been included in the conversation at all. "A few weeks ago, I didn't think the two of you could stand to be in the same room without arguing, but you've definitely proven me wrong since then."

Harry stood with a dark sigh and gave all three of them a small, very half-hearted smile. "Well, thanks for telling me about it. It would have taken weeks if I'd had to go look in the library."

Fred caught his arm before he could get too far and returned the smile. "Hey, if you ever need to talk, we'll listen. I know you don't want to say anything about it to Ron and Hermione."

Harry gave that very brief smile again as he nodded once and left without a word.

* * *

Harry couldn't help but keep his eyes on his plate and eat silently though breakfast, trying hard to ignore the way Malfoy's eyes were boring holes through the back of his head. It had been almost three weeks since his talk with the twins and Lee, and they had been absolutely right in saying that he'd become hyperaware of the blond Slytherin. Even from here he could feel the waves of anger, disappointment, and bewilderment that were flowing off of Malfoy, and he knew that most of it was because of how long they'd been working under the Rite's influence. Malfoy had been sure that it would only take a few days, maybe a week, but certainly not almost a month. Harry knew they both weren't ready though, so he didn't feel guilty for taking so long. In fact, he'd gone and looked up the Rite in the library, now that he knew what it was called, and had read that it often took months or years for both wizards to gain enough understanding for the magic to end.

He didn't think it they would take years, of course, but it was certainly going to take longer than a couple weeks.

Harry stood as soon as he saw Malfoy start to leave the hall, pausing only briefly to reassure his friends that he was only going to class early to keep out of trouble; they did have Potions first today after all. This took just enough time so that it wouldn't look like he was going after Malfoy but had really just decided to avoid Snape's wrath.

It was slightly difficult for him to follow the other male, since the magic of the Insularis was trying to keep him as far away from Malfoy as possible, but he pushed through it, like he had the last couple of times he'd done this. Malfoy had never noticed, of course. And neither had anyone else, for that matter, or so he thought.

"Last I checked, Potter, stalking other students is highly frowned upon."

Harry started violently and whirled around with wide eyes up at Snape, unsure of what he would do. The Potions teacher had been rather irritated with him since Professor Lupin had gotten him out of trouble.

"I wasn't stalking anyone, sir. I was heading to class," Harry answered in what he hoped was an innocent tone. Snape's eyes narrowed in suspicion but said nothing about it.

"Well, you won't get to class by gaping at me in the hallway."

Harry flushed slightly and murmured a soft apology before starting off toward the dungeon again. He glanced nervously over at Snape when the man fell into step beside him.

"I will not tolerate fighting in the halls, Potter, particularly between you and Malfoy," he said after a moment. "I was under the impression that the two of you had ceased your childish behaviour and were now getting along."

Harry blinked bewilderedly up at Snape, completely unsure of what to think of the situation. Was Snape actually offering to help him?

"We're still friends," he answered carefully. "We've just had a bit of a disagreement."

"Yes, so I've heard from him." One of the man's eyes twitched as though he were remembering something exceptionally distasteful. "As much as it pains me to say it, you would do better to hurry up and make amends. I dislike when my students cannot seem to focus in class or on their homework."

Harry ducked his head slightly, feeling ashamed about it even if he was unable to help it. "I'll try to do better...sir."

"See that you do, Potter."

Harry nodded once and quickened his steps so he could get to the classroom before Snape. He and Malfoy glared heatedly at each other as he came in and passed the other teen's table, though it was more out of habit than real ire. Since they were the only two in the room, Malfoy decided to studiously ignore him by pulling out a book to read. Harry felt a slight pang when he saw that it was the sci-fi, and not Potions, book he'd gotten Malfoy for Christmas. He was also slightly amused to see that Malfoy also had a piece of parchment out and was jotting down notes, on the book presumably, every now and then. Harry was not surprised, however; even he sometimes had a hard time with the genre and he'd grown up as a Muggle. He was touched that Malfoy had decided to read it.

It also provided him with the perfect opportunity to observe the blond again, since that was the whole reason they were fighting so badly in the first place. He knew Malfoy wasn't in Muggle Studies, since his father would never allow it, but he was obviously extremely interested in Muggles. And as he watched him take notes on the sci-fi book, he realized something; whatever Malfoy was passionate about, he was _obsessive_ about and extremely protective of. He'd seen it with Potions, Muggles, Arithmancy, their letters...and himself, Harry realized with a start. Malfoy had always been more interested in him than any other student; he'd even said so in his letters. He had always tried his hardest to get Harry's attention, whether to make him miserable or content, and had always gotten rather upset when Harry ignored him. He'd been worried for Harry anytime he got into trouble, and, now that they were close friends, he seemed to get slightly jealous when Harry ignored him for someone else or annoyed when Harry proved yet again that his hormones simply weren't working as fast as Malfoy's. And obviously he was protective of Harry; Malfoy had not only proven that when he said that it was his idea to send Dobby to his house to keep him away from Hogwarts, but also several weeks ago when he'd saved Harry from a rather large boulder that had fallen from the ceiling of their secret passageway.

Harry looked guiltily down at is desk when Malfoy glanced suspiciously over at him. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't surprising that Malfoy had gotten so distressed when Black had broken into his dorm. Malfoy knew as much about Black as he did, and anytime the criminal was mentioned around Harry, he gave Harry a worried glance. Harry had thought that as silly before, because he certainly wasn't about to seek out a powerful wizard that was out for his blood, so he hadn't realized that Malfoy would be so upset about Black's attack on Ron's curtains. What he saw as something confusing and odd, but not really something to worry about since Black had already proven he could get into the castle any time he liked, Malfoy must have seen as a direct threat to Harry's life. He must have thought that Harry really could have died, just like he had when Harry had fallen off his broom during that first Quidditch match. And then when Harry hadn't sought him out to talk or written him, he must have panicked. No wonder he'd gotten so mad when Harry seemed to have cared less about it.

Harry now felt very sorry that he'd scoffed at Draco's concern, but he still couldn't help but be irate at the blond because of his sabotage attempt. Being scared for him had not contributed to that.

"Hey, are you alright, Harry?"

Harry forced a smile as he looked over at Ron, slightly surprised to see that the rest of the class had shown up while he'd been thinking. "Yeah, I'm fine, Ron. Just a little tired."

Ron opened his mouth to say something, but just then Snape swept into the room and the door slammed shut behind him.

"Today," he said in his usual soft, but highly threatening, tone, "you shall began making a mild headache draught. This is not a complex potion, but it is extremely precise. One wrong step, and it could be strong enough to knock out a dragon or so weak that you might as well be drinking water. You will be working in partners that," he added with a malicious smile when various students shifted toward others, "I have already assigned. Parkinson and Patil..."

As Snape listed off the pairs, it became obvious that he'd paired together Gryffindors and Slytherins with each other, and in pairs that were likely to be rather explosive. The one good thing about this arrangement was that no Gryffindor would fail this assignment, since the Slytherins would do the whole potion themselves if they had to just to make sure their partners wouldn't cause them to mess up. Even knowing this, Harry was not happy with his assigned partner.

"Potter and Malfoy," Snape announced at last, as though it had not been obvious from the start. Harry noticed Malfoy narrow his eyes slightly at Snape and very much wanted to do the same.

"You will have the rest of class to complete the assignment. Instructions–" he tapped the board with his wand­ and writing instantly covered the surface– "are on the board. Begin."

Harry gained a rather put out expression as he picked up his stuff and moved to sit next to Malfoy. The blond studiously ignored him as he carefully copied down the instructions on the board, murmuring only, "Get the ingredients." Harry couldn't have cared less whether or not his presence was acknowledged, since he really didn't feel like talking to Malfoy anyway. He was just glad that he'd been partnered with someone so obsessed with Potions.

"You can prepare everything; I'll put it together," Malfoy said as Harry came back with the ingredients. "I know how poor you are at Potions."

Harry opened his mouth to say something scathing in retaliation but thought better of it and said instead, "Fine, I trust you to get it right."

Malfoy gave him a sharp, confused look, but Harry was already starting to dice the first herb.

They actually worked rather quickly and efficiently and only talked to each other when it was necessary. Harry was plenty happy to just prepare everything, since he figured that if he even tried to dump something into the cauldron, he'd do something wrong. Malfoy preferred it that way too, for the same reason, and he had a careful hand to tip the various ingredients into the cauldron that Harry couldn't hope to achieve in a million years. Harry was amazed at quickly they completed it, finishing even before Hermione's group. Snape sneered at Harry as he looked over their potion but moved on without a word, since it was perfect. Harry and Malfoy shared a very brief, very secret, awkward smile before they started cleaning up.

* * *

"How could you do that?" Draco demanded later the day as he stormed into Snape's office. Snape merely sighed and continued grading papers.

"Either explain what you mean, Draco, or leave. I am extraordinarily busy today."

"You know Potter and I are fighting! Why did you partner us together?"

"Why wouldn't I? Would you rather I'd paired you with Longbottom?"

Draco flushed lightly in indignation. "No."

"I didn't think so. The two of you worked well together and your potion was perfect. If the only reason you cannot work with Potter is some disagreement you've had, I can see no reason not to pair you together again."

Draco's flush grew darker in anger and he seemed no closer to leaving. Snape glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to speak.

"It wasn't just any disagreement!" Draco protested finally. The professor sighed and turned back to his work, prepared to listen to a long spiel about their so-called "disagreement."

"Of course it wasn't."

"I invoked the Insularis Rite."

Snape's quill paused on the parchment. "You did _what_?"

"I invoked the Insularis Rite. It had to be done; we really don't know each other very well. It would have been necessary sooner or later." Draco took in a deep breath and let it out heavily. 'That's why we can't work together, sir. It'll just set back all the progress."

Snape look over at him then and was, as Draco was startled to see, thoroughly pissed. "Foolish boy! And how is Potter supposed to defend himself decently against Black or some new incarnation of the Dark Lord while he's busy daydreaming about you, I wonder?"

Draco blanched slightly but held his ground. "It's only this once, Severus, and I know I'm getting close to being able to apologize."

Snape rubbed at his temples, obviously close to losing his temper completely. "Obviously, you are not, because then you would have realized that Potter is extremely stubborn and blind. He could take months even learning one significant thing about you."

"He won't," Draco retorted, though it was weaker than before. "This won't last longer than a month or two."

"You are free to believe that, but you will not come crying to me when your hopes are dashed. I chose not to become a parent for a reason."

Draco glared heatedly at the Potions Master and left without another word. Severus didn't understand. Potter would come back to him by Easter.

* * *

Harry was not even close to making up with Malfoy when Easter drew near. Oh, he'd thought about it, yes, several times in fact, but then he felt that same anger that had landed them in this mess boil up again and he knew he wasn't ready. He was, however, getting better at keeping his constant thoughts of Malfoy from affecting his schoolwork, but that in itself was starting to take a toll on his health. He wasn't hungry most of the time, and, though he was tired, when he slept, he had dreams about Malfoy that made him never want to sleep again. The effort of keeping his mind on school work and not Malfoy was extremely taxing and made him even more tired, so that he wasn't sure how he was still standing sometimes. Every morning at breakfast, he saw Malfoy giving him discrete, worried glances, and that only made him feel incredibly guilty. He was trying to hide it by blaming his failing health on the stress of the upcoming Quidditch match and their homework load, but he was really starting to fall apart.

Then Professor McGonagall asked him to stay after class.

He'd been daydreaming about seeing Malfoy at the birthday party their little group was holding for Fred and George the next day and almost missed what she said. Then when he did realize what she'd said, he panicked slightly, afraid that she'd noticed that he hadn't really been paying attention. He soon calmed a bit when he saw that she wasn't looking at him with an overly stern expression, and he hesitatingly followed her into her office once class was over. He quickly took a seat when he was told and watched her sit behind the desk with a confused expression.

Professor McGonagall regarded him silently for a moment before she said softly, "The Weasley twins have informed me that you and Malfoy have had a fight."

"Yes, that's true Professor."

"How long ago was that?"

"A couple months, I think. It was just after our match with Ravenclaw." Harry regarded her suspiciously. Was this the only reason for this talk?

"I see." Professor McGonagall nodded with a slight frown. "So this fight is over his actions during that match?"

"Among others things," Harry answered, his anger flaring up again as he thought about it. "Really, we don't understand each other at all, so we're using this time to learn about each other."

"May I ask how you're doing that? The Weasleys said you aren't speaking to each other."

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment, debating over whether he should say or not, before he finally answered softly, "The Insularis Rite."

Professor McGonagall blinked, looking mildly surprised. "Is it really that bad, Potter?"

"I guess so. I don't really know much about the Insularis Rite except for what Fred, George, and Lee told me. But I really have learned a lot about him. I think we both needed this."

"Well, it would account for your poor schoolwork and attentiveness in classes." Professor McGonagall frowned at him for a moment before she sighed. "I hope you two make up soon. The Insularis can take quite a toll on both wizards involved if not completed quickly."

"I'll try to, Professor," Harry said with a nod. "I'm sorry if I've worried you. I'll try to do better on my schoolwork, too."

"Well, don't kill yourself." Professor McGonagall smiled very faintly. "You'd best run along now, Potter. Weasley and Granger will be waiting for you, I expect."

Harry gave her a bright smile and left with a brief, "Thanks, Professor!" He would have to see if Malfoy was ready to be friends again during the party tomorrow.

* * *

Draco felt he should have been bored. He usually was at parties, especially those where he didn't really know anybody. He felt that he should be bored and knew that it would make him look more like a Malfoy if he were.

But how could anyone be bored when Harry Potter was around?

At the moment, Potter was talking animatedly with Lee Jordan about some prank he and the twins had pulled recently. A few minutes before, he'd been trying to hide a grin as Wood went on about their Quidditch match against Ravenclaw and how spectacular he'd flown and did he remember that Slytherin was still leading by 200 points? Soon, Draco knew, Potter would move on to talk to Cedric Diggory, who had just recently asked to hang out with them. No, he wasn't gay, but he had a sister who was whom his parents had seemed to forget after she'd run off with some Chaser of the Holyhead Harpies. He did, however, like talking with all of them and was already a friend of Oliver's boyfriend, besides. He especially liked talking to Potter, Draco had noted with a flare of jealousy. Yes, there he went, to go grab Potter's attention from Lee, who didn't seem to mind as he hadn't back over to the twins. No, Draco wasn't bored at all. No one was when Potter was around.

And he wasn't just watching Potter; he was learning, too. And the main thing he'd learned was that Potter was extremely uncomfortable with affection at all.

Oh, he'd noticed it while they weren't fighting, but then he'd thought it was because it was new and because they hadn't been friends for very long. After all, he was comfortable with Weasley and Granger. However, as he watched Potter from afar, he saw something completely different. Potter wasn't uncomfortable just in his presence, but in everyone else's too. He had a habit of shying away from any touches unless it was someone he was really comfortable with, like Weasley, and everyone else he actively avoided. When he couldn't avoid the contact, he squirmed uncomfortably and got out of the situation as soon as possible. He was never fully engaged in conversations, either, yet as soon as he was alone again, he looked extremely lonely and sought out another person quickly. It was like he'd never learned how to interact with other people, and otherwise, he acted abused as well.

Draco knew everything that had happened to Potter before Hogwarts, since the letter the brunet had written him about it had been rather detailed, but the letter hadn't included much at all about abuse. His aunt and uncle had forced him to live in a cupboard under the stairs and had locked him in for weeks or months at a time sometimes (imagine! He was the Boy-Who-Lived for Merlin's sake!), and they had never showed him any affection at all, and that his beast of a cousin and his little Muggle friends had often used him for a punching bag (oh, how Draco wanted to curse him senseless for that), but he'd never realized it was this bad.

That was something he was going to have to fix once they weren't fighting.

He was also starting to understand why Potter had been so upset with him over the dementor incident. Draco had meant to help Potter with it and increase his confidence, and it had worked for about five minutes. Potter, however, must have seen it as a sabotage attempt and felt betrayed. But Draco wasn't sure how he could apologize and explain why he'd done it without making Potter get defensive or hate him more.

"Hey, Malfoy?"

Draco looked up in surprise to stare into hesitant emerald orbs. He was amazed that Potter had sought him out, though he was obviously very edgy for it, not that he wasn't feeling the same himself. Potter sat down next to him with a very small smile and held out a bottle of butterbeer to him, which Draco accepted half-heartedly. He had to concentrate rather hard not to bolt because of how close Potter was. With effort, he focused on remaining calm as he opened the butterbeer and took a sip, eying Potter curiously.

"What is it, Potter?" he asked finally when the other boy showed no sign of saying anything.

Potter gave him a faint smile. "I've talked to everyone else, but not you. How have you been?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "You know perfectly well how I've been. You don't need to force yourself to talk to me like this."

"Why not?" Potter demanded softly. "I'm supposed to be learning about you, right? What better way to do that than by talking to you? Personally, I think it's stupid that this Rite makes us avoid each other; it should make us spend as much time as possible with each other instead."

"You aren't going to last five minutes sitting here–"

"I don't care. That's still five minutes of talking and learning. How have you been?"

Draco gave an exasperated sigh, but he was smiling, admiring again the depth of Potter's sheer determination. "I've been all right. Kind of bored, without anyone intelligent to talk to, but all right. And I've started on a couple projects. What about you?"

"I haven't been all that great. Thinking about you constantly can be a bit taxing." Potter managed a weak smile to show that he meant it as a joke, but it didn't last long. "But I don't think I'm ready to apologize just yet. I still get furious when I think about a couple of the things we're fighting over."

Draco gave an annoyed sigh but nodded. "I know. It's all right; I don't think I'm ready either."

Potter nodded and took a deep breath to calm himself. "So, what are these projects that you've started on?"

Draco smirked slightly. "Well, one has to do with the Weasley twins, so you'll have to ask them. The other's a secret, but I have a feeling you'll like the result when the time comes."

Potter gave him a petulant look but didn't argue. A moment later he jumped up and hurried away with a very faint, "Sorry." Draco sighed in relief as the compulsion to move faded, noting with amusement as he checked his watch that Potter had sat there just under five minutes.

* * *

"Hey, Fred, George, you know your way around Hogsmeade pretty well, right?"

The twins looked up in surprise as Harry came into the cavern looking slightly harassed.

"Sure, what's up, Harry?" Fred asked in concern.

"I need your help getting a present for Malfoy. His birthday's in two months, but I don't think there'll have another chance to get something before then."

Both Weasleys blinked in surprise. "You've made up, then?" George asked.

Harry flushed slightly and shook his head. "No, but I still want to get him something."

"So, what were you thinking of?" Fred asked as he stood up and stretched.

"A Muggle chess set. You know, one that doesn't move. Preferably a fancy one."

The twins gained sceptical looks but didn't seem unwilling to go. "All right, we know of somewhere to go. C'mon."

Harry smile in relief and eagerly followed them through the small hole in the rocks that led to the rest of the passageway. Immediately, it became obvious that the twins had been here quite a bit as there were now softly glowing balls of light placed in the walls every couple meters. Harry pointed them out and Fred grinned back at him.

"They're an invention of ours. We're hoping that someday they'll replace torches, but we haven't gotten them quite right yet."

"Really, they're quite simple," George continued. "We figured out that it's possible to transfigure objects into _spells_ as well as other objects. McGonagall doesn't teach that because it can be pretty dangerous and not very useful, 'cause if you have a wand to transfigure the object, then obviously it would be easier to just perform the spell."

"But when we were experimenting, we discovered that if you transfigure something into a _Lumos_ spell, it turns into light that keeps the same shape as the original object."

"Not very useful for regular objects, like quills and parchment–"

"But extremely useful for mining or for keeping a place like Hogwarts lit."

"That's amazing," Harry said in awe; Fred and George had just proven once again that they were magical geniuses.

"Yeah, but there are still some kinks to work out before we can write to the Ministry," George said with a longing sigh.

"For example, we haven't figured out whether they can be dimmed or turned on and off. Some people would want that."

"Also, they tend to explode after about a month, and we haven't figured out why yet."

Harry glanced warily at he glowing balls, but he was hoping Fred and George knew when these were set to explode. "That's still incredible. Does Professor McGonagall know you're doing this?"

"Oh yeah. She's the one who told us it was possible in the first place."

"Draco's been helping us with it too, actually," George said thoughtfully after a moment. Harry looked at him with surprise, remembering that Malfoy had said that one of his projects involved the twins. Maybe this was it.

"Really? With what?"

"He's been researching potions for us, to see if there might be one that would make the balls stable."

"He's way better at Potions than us­–"

"–he's better than anyone in the school really, except maybe Snape and Hermione–"

"–and he really just jumped on the chance to help with this."

"I wish I could help somehow."

Fred grinned slightly at him and clapped a hand down on his shoulder. "Harry you've got plenty of other things to worry about, like staying away from Black, and making sure you can catch the Snitch and win us the Cup. And along with that, we've got about a thousand Quidditch practices a day now and you've got homework. Don't worry about it."

Harry gave him a thankful smile, though he still wished he could help somehow. Then he frowned slightly in thought. "Can you turn spells into objects? Or into other spells?"

Fred and George shrugged, though they started to grin slightly. "Probably. We'll have to ask McGonagall about that. Thanks for the suggestion, though."

Harry gave them a bright smile, glad that he had been of some help after all.

They walked in silence for quite a while until the tunnel finally began to slowly rise. Not long after, Harry saw steps up ahead and felt it was best to ask where they were going to come out.

"Right in the basement of Zonko's," Fred answered with a grin as he started up the stairs. Harry grinned slightly as well as he followed with George taking up the rear. There didn't seem to be as many steps to this passage as there were in the Honeydukes passage, Harry reflected, as they reached the trapdoor long before he'd expected, or maybe he was just really excited. Either way, he eagerly climbed up into the cellar after Fred and copied his movements to get out into the shop. A surprising number of people were milling about the shop so they managed to get out without being seen by the keeper, whom, Fred explained, would have expected them to buy something right then.

Once outside, the twins headed off up High Street and Harry had no choice but to follow closely; Hogsmeade was surprisingly busy for the middle of the day on a Wednesday and he would have lost them in the crowd. He supposed that the residents took advantage of the times when no students were around, but it was still remarkable to Harry. He'd almost forgotten that many other wizards existed than those who went to Hogwarts and their parents.

They soon turned down a side street and entered a small shop directly opposite the post office. Harry only briefly saw the name painted in pale blue above the door, _Pryor Olla Podrida,_ before George dragged him inside. The inside was surprisingly cluttered for such a small building, and Harry could see several identifiable Muggle objects among the many books and magical ones that covered every available surface. In one corner sat several silver trinkets like those that sat in the headmaster's office. Along another wall were tall objects: a clock like the one the Weasleys owned; an ancient grandfather clock that was emitting colourful, firework-like sparks as it chimed the bottom of the hour; a dusty, slightly scorched perch (for a Fwooper, said the sign hanging on it); even a Muggle vacuum cleaner. Among everything else were piled stacks and stacks of books of every shape, size, colour, and age. There was even a small radio that was identical to one he had in his room back on Privet Drive sitting on a shelf playing classical music. Harry thought it looked a lot like an antiques or pawn shop.

Fred was already talking with the man behind the desk standing in the middle of the shop, whom he could only assume was the owner, when Harry finally made his way over.

"...so I know you have a couple; I've seen them around, but you keep changing things around in here..."

The man gave a small smile, and Harry was strongly reminded of Mr Ollivander for some reason. "Oh yes, I still have many, many, many. Few people ever come into my shop, and it's usually just to buy a book. Please, follow me."

He led them to the back of the shop, where most of the shiny, glimmering objects were placed. Sitting on a few free floating shelves were a dozen or more chess sets, some made out of wood and obviously quite cheap, while others were made of rather expensive and rare materials. Very few of them were moving.

"Ah, you've brought a friend this time," the shopkeeper said as he turned and spotted Harry. The brunet started involuntarily; now that he was closer, he could see that the man's eyes were a very light blue and completely clouded over.

Fred blinked and grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah. "Mr Pryor, this is Harry Potter. Harry, this is Mr Pryor, the owner. He's helped us out with a lot of stuff."

Harry smiled up at the man, at least until he noticed that the man's eyes hadn't even twitched at his name and he realized that Mr Pryor must be blind. Then he smiled again and took Mr Pryor's outstretched hand.

"It's nice to meet you."

"And you, Mr Potter," Mr Pryor answered with his own smile. "I have heard much about you. I'm assuming you are the one looking for the chess set?"

"Yes, it's for a friend of mine, for his birthday."

"I see. May I ask who this friend is?"

Harry looked at him sceptically. "You probably haven't met him. He's probably never even looked at this place, much less come in, no offence."

"I may surprise you."

"All right, it's Draco Malfoy." This instant after he said it, the three students glanced at each other is shock but said nothing because Mr Pryor was smiling again.

"Ah yes, Lucius's son. Yes, he's been in here several times. Once per Hogsmeade trip, I believe."

Harry stared at him in amazement. "Really?"

"Yes, and in fact, he's been looking at a couple of these chess sets." He pointed out a couple of the finer sets, which didn't surprise Harry. "And especially this one."

As Harry looked at the indicated board, he was amazed that Malfoy hadn't already bought it. It was incredible. One side of the pieces seemed to be carved out of mother-of-pearl and was inlaid with shining gold filigree. The other side was carved from fire opal that glowed from within and was inlaid with sliver. The squares of the board were carved from the finest crystal and the blackest obsidian.

"It's beautiful..." Harry breathed as he shifted to look at it differently.

Mr Pryor laughed. "That is exactly what Mr Malfoy said when he first saw it."

"And it's really for sale?" Harry asked softly, unable to believe it.

"Yes. I'll be sorry to see it go; it such a work of art, and it has an Unbreakable Charm, Feather-light Charms, and Glimmer Charms on it: a fantastic layering of spells. It's 79 Galleons, but really, that's a bargain."

"79 Galleons..." Harry moved around the chess set again and fell silent for a moment, frowning thoughtfully. Then he finally spoke, asking a little more firmly, "Can you take the money out of my vault? I don't think I have that much on me."

"Yes, of course, Mr Potter. Why don't you pack it up while I write a letter to the goblins? The box for it is under those shelves over there."

Harry hurried over to grab the box and held it up while the twins put the pieces inside. He was extremely thankful that the set had a Feather-light Charm on it once more than half of the pieces were inside.

"Mr Potter, would you please come and sign this?"

Harry handed the box to George and left them to finish packing up the set to go over and sign the letter under "Sennett Gaillard Pryor." He wasn't surprised that he had to sign as well, though now he was really starting to wonder about this man. His handwriting was perfect, and he didn't walk around like someone who was blind. Maybe it was because this was his shop, but Harry doubted it.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr Potter," Mr Pryor said with a smile as he handed the letter to a nearby owl, which promptly flew off out the door. "Please feel free to come back whenever you like."

"I'll be sure to visit," Harry answered as he took the box back from George when it was offered. "Thank you very much!"

"I'm glad I could help."

They waved goodbye as they headed out and back up the street. Harry waited until they were a good distance from the shop before he spoke.

"Is Mr Pryor really blind?"

The twins looked slightly surprised, though Fred nodded in response. "Yeah, but most people don't notice."

"He's a Seer, and an exceptionally good one–"

"–so he just looks a millisecond into the future–"

"–and that's how he can 'see' so well."

George shrugged slightly. "It was bloody confusing when he explained it."

Harry stared at them incredulously. "No kidding." He was silent for a moment before suggesting softly, "We should have a party for Draco's birthday."

The twins nodded. "Speaking of Draco, I think you're ready to make up with him," George said with a smirk."

"If you weren't, you wouldn't have been able to use his full name. Or use his first name just now."

Harry blinked and blushed lightly. "I hadn't even noticed that I said it. I was thinking about apologizing to him after the Quidditch Final. I would do it this week or next, but I have a feeling this is the only free time we'll have in a while."

"No joke. Oliver's probably looking for us right now. Him or Hermione."

* * *

"Hey, Harry, there's some Hufflepuff outside looking for you."

Harry looked up in surprise at Colin as the second year come into the common room. "Who is it?"

"I dunno, he didn't say. He just asked if I knew you and if I could tell you he's out there."

"All right...Thanks, Colin."

"Sure thing, Harry!"

Harry quickly reassured his friends that he would be back soon and got up from the table where they were studying to go see who it was. He was slightly surprised to see that the Hufflepuff in question was Cedric and that he looked rather harassed. The fifth year gave Harry a relieved smile as soon as he saw him and hurried over.

"Thank goodness; I thought that second year might be lying when he said he really knew you."

"What is it, Cedric?" Harry asked, already concerned.

Cedric's expression grew serious again. "It's Malfoy. He's gone insane, throwing a temper tantrum or something. He asked me to come find you–well, ordered, really, while blasting things apart in my face. Anyway, I don't think he's going to listen to reason unless you're there."

Harry suddenly felt slightly guilty. He hadn't gone to reconcile with Draco after the Quidditch Final like he told Fred and George he was going to do. He'd been so infuriated with the blond's behaviour just before and during the match that he was sure he would have just exploded if he'd tried. He wasn't the only one either; though they were all ecstatic that they'd won the Cup, both Oliver and Lee had threatened to jinx Malfoy several times if he so much as looked at them the wrong way, and neither of the twins was talking to the blond. Harry was sure that they would calm down eventually, since it had only been a couple of days since the match, but he wasn't sure he would.

He'd known that eventually he would have to go talk to Malfoy, however, and nodded once at Cedric's words. "All right, I'll go talk to him. I'm sorry he's caused you so much trouble."

Cedric gave him a warm smile. "It's all right. I was more startled than anything."

"I'll see what I can do," Harry said with a return smile. "See ya, Cedric!"

"Bye, Harry! Good luck."

Harry headed down to the mirror passage on his own, but once he got there and inside, he half-wished Cedric had come with him. It looked like a tornado had ripped through the room. The chairs were knocked over; the sofa had several rips through it; the table was cracked in two; and papers and rock dust were littered everywhere. The feathers falling from the ceiling suggested that a pillow had recently burst open. And standing in the middle of the mayhem, with papers, feathers, and dust whirling slowly around his feet with his magic, was Malfoy.

Malfoy looked up and froze when Harry came in, seemingly stunned, and then he suddenly smiled and rushed forward to hug Harry before the brunet could object.

"Harry, I'm really sorry! I'm sorry I yelled, and that I got so upset with you, and I can explain why I did the dementor thing–"

"No." Harry was stunned, but not so much that he couldn't squirm out of Malfoy's arms. "I'm not sorry, Malfoy. I was a few days ago, but I'm not now, and I won't be again for a while, I think."

Malfoy stared in shock. "Why not? It's been _two months_, Harry."

Harry winced slightly at the name, more upset that Draco could say it than the fact that he had, but his expression soon hardened all the same. "Don't call me that. You don't deserve it right now."

"Oh yeah?" Malfoy said, finally looking annoyed as his cheeks tinted pink.

"Yeah. You and your team had no right to act the way you did on Saturday during the match and before that, especially you."

"You're mad about _that_?"

"Of course I'm mad about that." Harry laughed bitterly. "It you hadn't noticed, Malfoy, _everyone_ is mad at you for that, except the Hufflepuffs."

Malfoy stared at him in shock and indignation but quickly gained a cold expression that would have done his father justice. "Fine. Then get out, Potter. And don't expect another apology from me."

Harry shrugged slightly as he turned to leave, trying not to feel hurt that Malfoy hadn't kept trying. "Fine. I didn't even expect this one."

He ducked instantly as he stepped back though the mirror and just avoided being hit by a rock that Malfoy had apparently thrown at him. He destroyed it as he passed on the way upstairs, figuring that Filch would get rather suspicious of a random rock in a hallway. It helped get rid of some of his anger, too, but he didn't feel guilty anymore. How could Malfoy think that he'd been keen to accept apologies? Did he not remember the crap he'd pulled for the last week?

* * *

After only a few more weeks, however, Harry was a mess. He felt horrible for what he'd said to Draco, but his pride wouldn't let him go apologize, not for that or for anything else. Draco's behaviour concerning Buckbeak certainly didn't make him feel any more inclined to seek the blond out either. But it was really starting to wear on him again.

It soon got to the point where he couldn't take being in the same room as pretty much anyone else for more than an hour or so, unless he had to for classes, so he'd taken to studying in either the library or the mirror passage. If Draco was in either place, they would resolutely ignore each other, but that was getting harder and harder to do, and Harry was praying that Draco wouldn't be in the passage today.

He wasn't, but someone else was, Harry saw with slight confusion. It was Aaron Eaglesight, Oliver's sixth-year boyfriend in Hufflepuff. Harry hadn't spoken with him much, since he hardly ever came here without Oliver and he hung out with a completely different group of students than Cedric. Whenever he had, however, it became obvious that he and Oliver were complete opposites. Where Oliver was loud, boisterous, outgoing, and often a fanatic, Aaron was quiet, withdrawn, studious, and almost teacher-like, yet he'd never reminded Harry of Hermione.

The only other thing Harry really knew about Aaron was that he was an extremely good Seer and was in the N.E.W.T. Divination class. Apparently, he came from a family of North American Indians who had been shamans for generations and his parents had signed him up to come to Hogwarts so he could learn modern magic from the best school as well. Occasionally, he'd seen Aaron in the halls talking with the castle ghosts and knew that Moaning Myrtle in particular was quite attached to him, so he didn't question his claim to be a shaman. He often wondered whether it bothered Oliver to have ghosts hanging all over his boyfriend, but he never felt it proper to ask.

At the moment, Aaron was having a conversation with the Grey Lady and Myrtle, politely blushing when it was proper. He looked up almost as soon as Harry stepped in, and a moment later, the two ghosts were floating up and away through the ceiling. Aaron turned and smiled at Harry, gesturing him over.

"I was hoping to catch you today. Come, I want to talk with you."

Harry frowned in confusion but walked over and sat down next to Aaron, dropping his bag to the floor next to him. "What is it?"

"How have you been?"

Harry stared at him incredulously; surely he knew?

Aaron smiled gently at Harry's expression. "I only ask to help you calm down. Your aura's spitting anxiety and suspicion."

Harry flushed lightly with guilt and took a deep breath to calm down. "Sorry. I've been fine. As good as one can hope with exams only a month away, anyway."

Aaron frowned slightly. "I could have figured that out on my own, Harry."

"All right, I haven't been 'fine'," Harry answered with a soft sigh. "Not even close. I miss Draco a lot, but I can't bring myself to go apologize to him for anything, and I know it's hurting him a lot, but he kind of deserves it."

The older boy looked faintly surprised, mostly at Harry's use of Draco first name. "Has the Insularis ended?" He, Oliver, and Cedric has all been informed of what was going on so they wouldn't accidentally interfere.

Harry shook his head with a bitter smile. "No, but after living with it three months, I've managed to mostly ignore it."

To Harry's surprise, Aaron looked rather concerned about this. "Are you sure it's been three months?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because if you're not careful, you and Draco could end up permanently bonded."

Harry looked slightly confused, as he hadn't come across that term before. "What do you mean 'permanently bonded'?"

"Well, in the wizarding world, a bond connects two people together, usually in marriage or something similar, physically, mentally, and magically. Usually at the beginning, the bond is very raw and compels the two wizards to spend as much time together as possible. The bonded are usually hyperaware of each other, much like you and Draco are right now, though it goes further to allow telepathy too. Bonds also tend to enable both wizards to access each other's magic and life force, and if one wizard dies, often his or her partner finds it impossible to live and dies as well." Here Aaron blushed very lightly and continued in a more hesitant voice, "I really only know so much because Oliver and I were thinking about bonding just after school ends, since it's his last year and we're both seventeen."

"Congratulations," Harry said sincerely, though he soon frowned in confusion again. "But...I've read that people under the Insularis can spend years working everything out..."

"Yes, and nearly all of them ended up bonded." Aaron rolled his eyes slightly as he continued, "The wizards who created the Insularis felt that if you couldn't make up within four months, you'd probably continue to have problems. Therefore, anyone under it for longer than that would be permanently bonded."

Harry looked scandalized. "I don't want to be bonded to Draco!"

"Then I suggest that you make up with him soon." Aaron gained a sympathetic expression. "I've talked to Draco a couple times. He's rather depressed right now, no matter how he seems in public."

Harry gave him a slightly helpless look as he flopped back against the sofa cushions. "I can't. He's being such a git right now. I'd only get mad at him again a second after apologizing."

"This isn't just about Quidditch anymore, is it?"

"No, I stopped being mad at him for that after a week," Harry answered with a shake of his head. "No, this is about Buckbeak. I mean, I'd forgive him he actually seemed sorry, but he's just rubbing it in everybody's faces."

"I think that's something you'll have to talk to him about. If he doesn't really feel sorry, nothing's going to make him act that way."

Harry sighed heavily. "I know. 'Cause he's a stubborn prat..."

Aaron smiled faintly. "You know, I used to think the about Oliver. We often got into fights about various things."

"_You_ got into fights?" Harry simply could not imagine quiet, peaceful Aaron fighting with anyone, even Oliver.

"Yes, hard to imagine isn't it? But we managed to work everything out and stayed together. We still disagree with each other every now and then."

Harry sighed again, looking up at the ceiling this time. "Draco and I are so different, though. I don't know how we'll ever stay friends for more than a couple months at a time."

"Oliver and I are just as different as you two. Part of being friends with someone is learning to deal with the differences." Aaron shrugged with a small smile. "I find Oliver exasperating during his best moments, but I wouldn't give him up for the world."

Harry laughed softly; Oliver was exasperating to _everyone_. "Trust me, Draco's way worse than Oliver in his good moments."

"Where would they be without us, right?" Aaron laughed as well as he stood and grabbed his own bag. "I should probably leave you to your studying." He headed over to the mirror but paused before leaving. "Everything will turn out fine, Harry. Trust me."

Harry found that hard to believe, since everything seemed to be falling apart about his ears, but it was also rather hard not to trust the word of a Seer like Aaron.

* * *

"Well, don't you look cheerful."

Harry started slightly, but in an instant had clambered to his feet and raced over to envelope Draco in a rather clingy hug. He didn't care at the moment whether they were seen by the numerous student milling about the grounds, or whether Draco would appreciate the hug; right now, he just cared that Draco had actually accepted his sudden invitation to meet at their tree.

"Merlin, Draco, I'm so sorry for everything, especially when I wouldn't accept your apology. Please don't reject mine like that! I've been completely miserable!"

"You know I should just push you away anyway, don't you?"

"I know, and I'm really, really sorry..."

Harry couldn't find words to describe the relief he felt when Draco's arms wrapped around his waist rather than push him away.

"Apology accepted. And I'm sorry too, for everything, especially the whole hippogriff mess. I know I haven't acted like it, but I am."

Harry blinked up at his in amazement. "Really?"

"Really," Draco answered with a faint smile. Harry grinned and pressed a very brief kiss to the blond's lips. Both breathed a sigh of relief when they felt the magic of the ritual lift and they could only hear and feel their own thoughts and emotions again.

"All right," Draco murmured, "now meet me in the passage in a couple minutes so we can really talk. I want to know everything that's been going on with you."

Harry almost nodded but then quickly shook his head. "Actually, Draco, I need to go first. Would you come in about ten minutes and wait outside the mirror?"

Draco gained a bewildered look yet slowly nodded. "All right."

"Thanks." Harry gave him another kiss before dashing off across the lawn toward the school. He was lucky enough to avoid almost everyone as he raced up to Gryffindor Tower and then back down to the fourth floor with the chess set under his arm. Once he got to the passage, however, he couldn't decided whether he really wanted to set it up and present it to Draco like that like he'd originally planned, or whether Draco would appreciate it more if the set was still in the box when he received it and he could set it up the first time himself. He soon found that he had no choice but the latter when Draco suddenly stuck his head in through the mirror.

"Can I come in yet?"

Harry sighed and nodded. "Yeah, sorry."

"Why did I have to wait out there?" Draco asked as he stepped into the room.

"I was going to set something up, but then I decided not to." Harry shrugged and sat down in one of the chairs, the box on his lap. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Draco eyes flickered briefly to the box as he shook his head, not sitting down himself. "Not here. You didn't go to Hogsmeade yesterday, did you? Let's go there."

Harry stared disbelievingly at Draco. "What about Sirius Black? Aren't you worried about him?"

Draco fixed him with a stern look. "I'm not stupid, Harry. I know you had something to do with Black and Buckbeak getting away. I'm not worried."

Harry nodded with a faint smile and followed Draco into the tunnel. They walked in companionable silence, both simply content to be in the other's presence for the time being, until they reached Hogsmeade and had made there way to the Three Broomsticks. Then, Draco left to get drinks while Harry found them a secluded table near a corner of the tavern. Once Draco had come back and they'd both settled, the blond pointed at the box that Harry was still holding.

"What's that?"

"Oh!" Harry immediately looked guilty and pushed the box across the table to his friend. "It's for you, your birthday present. I'm sorry it's late."

Draco glanced suspiciously at him before carefully opening the box, as though it might be a trick, but then he gasped and took the chess board out with careful hands and wide eyes.

"This...this is..."

"Mr Pryor told me you'd been looking at that one a lot," Harry said softly. "You don't mind that I got it for you, do you?"

Draco gave him an incredulous look as he placed the board on the table and started setting up the pieces. "Are you nuts? I love it! Thank you, Harry!"

Relieved that Draco had liked the chess set, Harry sat back to drink his butterbeer and watch how Draco's face lit up almost every time he pulled another piece from the box.

Draco finished setting up the pieces and just admired it for a moment before he pushed a pawn forward. "All right, before we talk about anything else, I want to know exactly what happened on Thursday night."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

Harry sighed and made his move in the board before he started, "Well, after dinner, Ron, Hermione, and I headed down to Hagrid's under the Invisibility Cloak..."

Draco was respectfully silent as he listened to Harry describe everything that had happened, smirking once or twice at a few things, but he could stay quiet when Harry got to his talk with Sirius.

"Wait, Black is your _godfather_?"

Harry looked faintly amused at the reaction to this information. "Yeah, he was my dad's best friend. What did you expect? Now let me finish; I've still got way more to tell you."

Draco didn't interrupt again until Harry got to Hermione's secret; then he nearly exploded. "_Granger_ has a Time Turner?! How'd she get allowed one?"

"She said that Professor McGonagall had to write to the Ministry a whole bunch of times and told them that she was a model student and wouldn't use it for anything but school and so forth."

Draco huffed and moved a knight, obviously wishing he had a Time Turner too. "Check. Get on with it then."

Harry smiled faintly and continued with the account, going a little slower now as though he were still trying to figure everything out himself. He stared resolutely at the table when he mentioned who he thought had produced his Patronus so he wouldn't see Draco's face. Draco stayed almost scarily silent until Harry was nearly done; then he gasped softly and stared at Harry with wide eyes.

"You produced a Patronus _that_ powerful?"

Harry blushed lightly. "Um...yeah..."

"That's incredible."

"Thanks," Harry murmured, only blushing further. "Can I keep going?"

"Oh, right, sorry. Go ahead."

Harry just smiled when Draco interrupted a fourth time, this time with laughter. "So _that_'s why Severus is so livid!"

"Yeah, he's pretty intuitive," Harry said with a soft laugh of his own. "But he can't prove that Hermione and I had anything to do with Sirius's escape, so I'm not worried. Still–" he sighed as he moved a pawn– "I wish Sirius were still here so I could live with him."

"He did sound pretty nice," Draco said with a faint smile. "Checkmate."

Harry huffed softly and started setting up his side of the board again. "I don't know why you like to play me. I'm no good at chess."

"You're not that bad, Harry. Besides, it's fun to beat you at something." Draco grinned as he finished setting up his pieces and made the first move again. "So, it would be my turn to talk now, right?"

"Yeah."

"I want to explain why I did the dementor thing."

Harry choked on his butterbeer and stared wide eyed at Draco. Was he serious? What was there to explain?

"I'm sorry that I did it, Harry," Draco went on sincerely, looking the brunet squarely in the eyes. "But think you should understand why I did it."

"Fine," Harry answered once he gained his voice back, though he didn't look happy about it.

"And you won't interrupt me?"

"And I'll _try_ not to interrupt you. I guess I owe you that at least."

Draco gave him a thankful smile before turning serious again. "I know you think I was trying to sabotage you, but that couldn't be more wrong. You'd been complaining to me for the last couple weeks that you hadn't made any more progress on your Patronus, and I wanted to help you. So I came up with the idea of dressing up as a dementor and walking onto the pitch in the middle of the game. Then you could try a Patronus outside the classroom and in an unexpected situation. I wanted you to be sure that you could really do it whenever you tried and not just in a controlled setting. I didn't mean for you to see it as sabotage, and I know now that I should have thought of something else, and I really am sorry that I did it."

Harry frowned thoughtfully at the board, staying silent for several moves. "And you didn't bother to think that maybe I could gain that confidence on my own? That maybe I didn't need you to come to my rescue?"

"No," Draco answered softly, sounding as ashamed as a Malfoy could, "I didn't, and I'm sorry for that. But it did work, at least for a few minutes."

Harry was silent again for quite a long time, almost so long, in fact, that Draco thought he might have ruined everything. Harry, however, felt that he really should be more upset with Draco than he was really feeling and that was mostly why he was silent for so long. When he did finally speak, it was with a smile.

"All right, I forgive you."

"You do?" Draco looked astonished; obviously, he hadn't expected that.

"Draco, we've spent the last four months avoiding each other. Frankly, I'm sick of it. I forgive you."

Draco smiled in relief. "Good."

"Fred and George told me about the _Lumos_ balls and your 'project' helping them with it," Harry said after a moment. "How's that going?"

"Pretty good. I think I may have found a potion that'll do something similar to what we're looking for, but I think I'll probably have to adjust it; something simple, like two grams of phoenix ashes rather than just one, or adding a clockwise stir every three anticlockwise. I have a much better lab back at the Manor than Severus will allow me here, so I should make some real progress over the summer."

"That's great," Harry said sincerely. "What about the other project you mentioned?"

"Still a secret," Draco answered with a smirk. "But I think you'll love it when I do tell you."

Harry childishly stuck his tongue out at Draco but didn't seem too upset about it.

"Um, Harry...do you remember what really started this whole fight. You know, that I didn't really know anything about you, even superficial stuff? I can do that now..."

"Oh?"

Draco nodded almost hesitantly and started reeling off things. "Your favourite colour is green, like your eyes, though you'd never tell anyone that because you're afraid that someone might find out that you were almost put in Slytherin and that could help make people suspicious. Your favourite food is treacle tart, and you always grab the last piece before anyone else can. And I already knew the names of your relatives: Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley; you told me in that letter, and believe me, they'll wish you'd never been related to them eventually."

Harry smiled faintly at first, though he frowned at the last comment. "Draco, they already wish that. Don't do anything to them."

Draco rolled his eyes slightly. "Well, obviously I can't do anything to them right now; the Ministry would come after me. But eventually I will, and nothing you say will convince me not to."

Harry sighed and shook his head, moving a rook only half-heartedly. "Have you given any thought to my idea?"

"The girl one?"

"Yeah."

"Yes. I don't like it, but it would keep suspicions about us low."

Harry smiled knowingly. "So you'll do it?"

"I'll do it," Draco answered with an annoyed expression.

Harry gave him a relieved smile. "Thanks, Draco. And I promise that I'll always like you more than any girl."

"I know." Draco smirked slightly as he moved his queen. "Checkmate."

Harry groaned and hit his head lightly on the table. "I don't know why I even try..."

"You're not that bad, Harry," Draco answered as he started putting the pieces away into the box. "You'll get better."

"You and Ron should play sometime," Harry said, his voice muffled by the table. "He could probably beat you."

"As if. No Weasley will ever beat me at chess."

Harry laughed as he got up and stretched, waiting for Draco to finish packing up. "That doesn't surprise me. You'd have a better challenge than me, anyway."

"You're a challenge, Harry," Draco answered as he stood as well, holding the box under one arm. "I like playing against you."

Harry eyed him dubiously but didn't argue as they headed out. He was far too content to start another fight just yet.

"Oh! Draco," he said suddenly when they were almost back to Zonko's, "come to the mirror passage this Thursday. We're having an end-of-the-year party."

"Will it be like the twin's party?"

"No, it's going to be much better," Harry answered with a slight roll of his eyes.

"Okay." Draco suddenly scowled slightly. "Diggory will be there, won't he?"

Harry gave an exasperated laugh. "Yes, Draco, Cedric is going to be there. You should at least _try_ to get along with him. He's really nice, and he does feel bad for beating Gryffindor at the beginning of the year."

Draco scowled again, staying silent while they made their way through Zonko's and into the tunnel. Then he muttered softly, "He likes you too much."

"Draco, he has a girlfriend."

"He still likes you too much."

Harry sighed and took one of the blond's hands in one of his own. "Just try to get along with him, please? Maybe you'll surprise yourself and actually like him a bit."

"Yeah, right."

"Didn't he give you a birthday present?"

Draco huffed and scowled at the floor. "Yes. It was nice."

"See? He's trying. Give him a chance."

"Fine, I will. But I'm not guaranteeing anything."

* * *

On Thursday just before noon, Draco headed up to the fourth floor, brushing off Vincent and Gregory at the Great Hall on the way by telling them that he wanted to do some last minute research in the library. They didn't follow him, of course, since their stomachs were far larger than their brains, which came in handy sometimes. He, of course, was not heading to the library–and had they been paying any attention to his actions over the last week, they might have known that–but to the mirror, which just happened to be on the same floor.

He was surprised to see Harry waiting outside for him when he got there, and even more bewildered when the Gryffindor rushed to meet him halfway down the corridor.

"Hey, could you wait out here for a moment?" Harry asked once they reached the mirror. Draco looked at him suspiciously, remembering the last time Harry had made that request.

"You won't forget about me again, will you?"

"No, of course not. I'll be right back."

Harry seemed rather excited about something, Draco noted as the brunet disappeared into the mirror. He wondered what it could be; this was just a party, after all. Then again, Harry hadn't been to many parties, and he had seemed rather excited about the last one. Maybe it was just excitement for that?"

He was drawn out of his musings when Harry's head poked back through the mirror and told him to come in.

He gasped in shock and amazement as soon as he stepped through. Harry had said this was just an end-of-the-year party, but hanging above the fireplace was a giant banner proclaiming HAPPY BIRTHDAY DRACO in letters flashing green and slivery-blue, while hanging under it was second, much smaller banner that read CONGRATULATIONS OLIVER AND AARON in red and yellow. This banner held the only Gryffindor-ish colours in the room, however; the sparkling, writhing streamers hanging from the ceiling and walls and the huge balloons floating everywhere were all green and silver. In the centre of it all stood a magnificent multi-layered cake, green with silver writing and decorations, that reminded Draco of the Forbidden Forest in winter. And sitting around the cake in the armchairs and sofas that were already green were all the members of their small group; the twins, he noticed, had on special party hats that shot off green and silver fireworks every couple minutes.

"Surprise," Harry murmured next to him with a hesitant smile. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," Draco breathed out, turning his amazed gaze down to Harry. "Did you do this?"

"It was my idea," Harry answered with a stronger smile. "Fred and George helped with the decorations. Cedric helped with getting the cake and the food."

"It's brilliant," Draco said to reassure Harry again. "Thank you. And you, too," he added to the twins and Diggory.

"No problem," Fred answered with a grin.

"Are you hungry?" Harry asked as Draco finally unfroze and started forward.

"Yeah, starving."

"Okay, sit, I'll get you something." Harry pushed Draco down into a loveseat they'd added recently and headed over to the back wall where a long table stood piled with food. Taking this as a hint that they could get food as well, a few of the others got up and headed over a moment later.

"Have you been hit by a Cheering Charm or something?" Draco asked jokingly when Harry came back with a slight grin on his face. Harry laughed and shook his head as he sat down next to Draco.

"No, it's just nice to be friends with you again," he answered as he handed Draco his plate and a bottle of butterbeer. "It didn't really sink in until a couple days ago."

"Is that what caused this?" Draco questioned, gesturing vaguely at the room.

"No, I had this idea weeks ago."

Draco smiled faintly and started eating, his gaze shifting to the fantastic decorations. "My housemates didn't do anything as great as this..."

"Well, you're lucky we did. We had a couple disagreements over the colours to put up."

"Oh?"

"Fred and George were all for the Slytherin colours, but Oliver and Lee thought it wouldn't be fair to not include red and yellow, since you really are the only Slytherin here." Harry shrugged slightly and pointed up at the centre of the streamers where a group of very small red and gold balloons that Draco hadn't noticed before was hanging. "We compromised with that and with the second banner. Aaron and Cedric agreed with me that this should really be your party since the twins had their own."

Draco gave the group of balloons an appraising look before he shrugged and went back to eating. "I can share. They deserve something; they're getting bonded after all."

The food slowly disappeared as the afternoon wore on, though the supply of butterbeer didn't seem to, and as did the cake once they cut into it. For the most part, Harry stayed on the loveseat with Draco, which made the blond rather happy, though he did go talk with Oliver and Aaron a couple times, and Cedric came over once to say hello.

About mid-afternoon, Draco stood up to draw everyone's attention, earning a confused glance from Harry.

"I've been thinking," he started, giving a warning glance at the twins who looked like they wanted to say something condescending about that, "that our group needs a name."

The others looked at him with surprise, their attention now fully drawn. George was the first to make any gesture of yea or nay as he nodded his head. "That's not a bad idea. It would help to keep this secret."

"And we'll probably have to register as an actual club eventually," Diggory agreed. "We'll have to have a name for that."

"I'm guessing you had something in mind?" Harry said with a faint smile.

Draco smiled back at him and sat down again with a nod. "I had an idea, yes."

"Well, what is it?"

"The Serpent Guard."

The others' gazes immediately turned to shock and incredulity; a couple of them shook their heads a little and muttered something about him being crazy.

"Draco," Harry murmured, placing a light hand on his arm. "I'm sure you think it's a good idea, but really...you're the only Slytherin here..."

"I'm not," Draco retorted, a little upset that even Harry hadn't liked his idea. "You told me yourself that you were a hair's breadth away from being put in Slytherin. Half the time, the twins and Lee act like they _are_ in Slytherin. Oliver...well, I wish he had been in Slytherin; our Quidditch team would have been brilliant for years. Aaron's pure-blood and mysterious–that's good enough. And Diggory...well, I'm sure there's something there."

"Well, yes, but Draco–"

"And we've all been acting Slytherin just by meeting here with each other. We've all lied to our friends and kept it secret for half the year. Even the teachers don't know about all of us meeting here; they just know about me, you, and the twins."

"All right, you've proven your point," Lee interrupted patiently, though he looked as shocked as the rest of them at Draco's take on their group. "But what's the 'Guard' part about?"

Draco smirked at that, glad that they understood a least a little. "That's the most brilliant part. It ensures that no one will question the name. If anyone asks why we're named the Serpent Guard, we can just say it's because we meet in a place that connects to the Chamber of Secrets, letting us watch and guard it."

"That can't be the only reason," Harry said sternly, able to see right through Draco's excuse.

"Of course not. The real reason is because we all protect the biggest serpent of all when we can."

Harry blinked in surprise. "We do? Who?"

"You," Draco answered with a grin. "You can speak Parseltongue, you're connected to Voldemort, you were almost put in Slytherin, you _act_ very Slytherin while you're around me, and you're the one who initiated our friendship in the first place, behind your other friends' backs."

Harry just stared at him in disbelief, shaking his head slightly, then at Fred when the redhead said slowly, "You know...it's not bad. It would certainly keep us secret."

"I could deal with it. I'm leaving this year anyway," Oliver agreed with a nod.

"I certainly wouldn't tell anyone I was in something called the 'Serpent Guard'," Diggory added.

Draco smirked and glanced back at Harry, who was chewing his lip slightly. "Well?"

Harry frowned slightly and looked away for a moment, then nodded back up to Draco with a resigned expression. "All right, the Serpent Guard it is then."

"Cheers." Draco grinned and leaned over to press a kiss to Harry's lips, one that the Gryffindor returned with little reluctance.

END OF PART ONE


	6. Interlude I: Letters From Here to There

Background Secrets

Interlude I: Letters from Here to There

_June 12, 1994_

_Dear Cousin Sirius,_

May I introduce myself: my name is Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Abraxas Malfoy and Narcissa Black-Malfoy. We've never met; I was only a year old at the time of your capture.

However, I know all about you and how you were unjustly imprisoned for thirteen years for a murder you did not commit. Your godson, Harry Potter, is one of my best friends at school, and he told me everything. I know all about how you escaped, and how Pettigrew escaped, and how I should probably trust you now.

I will tell you plainly now that I do not trust you. I am willing to deal with you for Harry's sake, but I do not trust you, nor will I until you prove that you will do a decent job of taking care of Harry. He's been hurt enough, not just by the Muggles he's forced to live with, but by a lot of other people too. He doesn't need someone else to let him down.

If you do end up hurting or neglecting Harry, I will hunt you down myself.

Anyway, it's nice that you've gotten out of Azkaban and that Harry has another person in his life to care about him, and that I have another family member.

_Sincerely,_

_Draco Malfoy_

_

* * *

June 30, 1994 _

_Dear Cousin Draco,_

You must care quite a bit for Harry to make a threat like that. Don't worry, I'm not planning to do him any harm, and maybe you'll learn to trust me in time.

I have met you, but you wouldn't remember. Your mother invited everyone in the family to your naming ceremony, which would include me, of course. I wasn't well received, but then again, most of the family is made up of Death Eaters, and I'm certainly the farthest thing from one. You were a very loud baby.

I'm glad that you know what happened that night. I have no doubt that your father and aunt will too, soon enough, though I have a feeling they'll take a different spin on things than you and Harry and his other friends. It will be nice to have family that I can trust not to treat me like a blood traitor for a change.

Are you friends with Ron and Hermione, by the way? I don't seem to remember them or Harry talking about you at all.

_My regards,_

_Sirius Black_

_

* * *

July 8, 1994 _

_Dear Cousin Sirius,_

_Me_ friends with _them_? Merlin, no. I'm not even in Gryffindor; I'm a Slytherin, and proud of it. I'm just friends with Harry. Weasley, Granger, and I loath each other with a passion.

And Harry wouldn't have said anything about me because they don't know we're friends. They still think we loath each other too, and we'd rather like to keep it that way for a bit. Harry would fall apart if his...friends found out about us, because they would leave him in an instant and they used to be all he had. Now, of course, he has me and several others, but they're still his closet friends and he wouldn't do well if he lost them.

It may take some time for me to trust you. I'll have to see how Harry's doing when we get back to Hogwarts before I decide. I do, however, like you a bit more now since he told me that it was you that sent him his Firebolt.

Do you know when his birthday is? He probably won't be expecting something from you, so it would be a good surprise.

_Sincerely,_

_Draco Malfoy_

_

* * *

July 11, 1994 _

_Dear Harry,_

You'll be happy to know that I'm completely out of the country and safe in a place where the dementors can't hope to find me. I won't tell you where, in case this letter is intercepted, but I am safe, and so is Buckbeak. I think he misses you a bit, though so do I.

We've had an amazing journey. It's wonderful to be able to breathe fresh air again, and to be away from those horrid dementors, and to not have to really worry about anything.

However, I've had a few letters while I've been here, several of them from Draco Malfoy, who claims to be a friend of yours. He sounds nice enough, though a little protective of you. I don't know what you're doing, being friends with a Malfoy, but I have to trust that you're not making the wrong choice.

If you need anything, Harry, don't hesitate to write me. I'd like to be the kind of parent you never had the chance to have.

_Sirius_

_

* * *

July 15, 1994 _

_Dear Cousin Draco,_

I know you're a Slytherin; you're a Black and a Malfoy, so there's practically no other choice. I've been the only one in the family so far not to be in Slytherin.

Does he agree that you need to keep this friendship secret? I would have thought he'd tell his other friends, regardless of how they'd feel about it.

Yes, I know when his birthday is. I'll be sending something with the next letter I send him.

How are your dear mother and father taking this friendship of yours with Harry? Or do they not know either? Is there anyone who knows?

_Sirius Black_

_

* * *

July 15, 1994 _

_Dear Sirius,_

Draco's written you?! He never told me that! How much has he been writing you?

Yes, Draco's a friend of mine. A very good friend, in fact. There're only a few people who know about us: Ron's older twin brothers, a couple older students from different Houses, and a couple of the teachers. No one else knows, though, and we don't want anyone to know. I'm amazed that he wrote you and said anything about it. Come to that, I'm amazed he wrote you at all; did he say why?

It's great to hear that you're doing well! Ron really liked the owl that you let him keep, though he asked Crookshanks if he should keep him first. I never thought he'd ask that cat for advice, but I guess Ron's grudge against him is gone.

Dudley, my cousin, had to start a diet, since he weighs about a ton and doesn't fit into any of his clothes anymore. Aunt Petunia is making everyone follow the diet too so Dudley doesn't get more upset than he already is. It's rather funny watching him when it comes close to meal times, 'cause he's gotten in the habit of hanging around the kitchen to see what Aunt Petunia is making and to see if he can sneak in and nick something. So far, he hasn't been very successful.

The Weasleys, Hermione, and Hagrid all sent me food, though, so I don't have to starve all summer, and that just makes watching Dudley have to starve all the better.

Tell Buckbeak that I miss him too.

_Harry_

* * *

Letter included with Sirius's present: 

_July 27, 1994_

_Dear Harry,_

Yes, Draco's written me. I've received a couple letters from him. In fact, the first one had to have been sent while you were still at school, because I got it shortly after I sent my first letter to you.

From the sound of his letters, he's extremely protective of you. He even threatened to hunt me down if I did anything to you. He's been quite adamant about that actually. Is there something more than friendship between you two?

I can't believe that Muggle is making you _diet_! Hasn't she taken a good look at you lately? A diet is the last thing you need. So I hope you enjoy the cake that I'm including with this, and that you don't starve. It doesn't sound like you will, since you've been sent food by your friends as well.

Remember, if you need anything, I'm here to help.

_Sirius_

* * *

Letter included with Draco's present: 

_July 31, 1994_

_Dear Ahren,_

What a summer! You have no idea how busy I've been, what with my two projects, and letters to various people, and schoolwork, and the various tasks Father has set to me! And it's practically August already! It feels like we've just gotten out of school.

I've made great progress on the potion, though I suppose it helps that I've been using my own Potions lab rather than the one at school. I know it much better, and I've got much better equipment! My professor, I think, would be jealous if he knew what I have.

I've been writing to one of my roommates about him joining the SG next year. He's proven a very worthy opponent, but I think he's coming around. Hopefully it'll only take a few more letters to convince him to join.

I hope you like your present. I was appalled when you told me that the Muggles are starving you. It sounds like you're skinny enough. I hope I can help fix that. And I still haven't forgotten what I learned last year, which I think you'll see.

Make sure you read the note enclosed with the small box. It's really important.

_Rast_

P.S. Do you know yet whether you'll be able to go to the Quidditch World Cup? Father got our tickets yesterday and we've got excellent seats. Maybe we could meet up there?

_

* * *

July 31, 1994 _

_Dear Cousin Sirius,_

Harry agrees with me completely that we need to keep our friendship secret. He hasn't quite figured out why he feels that way yet, but I know that it's because he's afraid he'll lose his friends because of it. And he would lose his friends if they knew, and he knows that too.

Mother and Father know nothing of my friendship with Harry. They are aware that I have been writing someone, but since we use pen names in our letters to each other, they don't know who it is. Rather, they think that I'm writing to someone from Durmstrang and are encouraging me to keep writing. If they found out who I'm really writing to, I would probably be killed.

They also have no idea that I'm writing to you. If they did, they would probably inspect all of my owls going back and forth, and that would disrupt quite a bit.

The only people who know about my friendship with Harry are the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, and Oliver Wood, from Gryffindor, and Cedric Diggory and Aaron Eaglesight from Hufflepuff. I've been writing to one of my roommates to get him to join our little club, however, and doubtless, Harry will end up telling someone else this year also.

I'm glad you know his birthday. He'll be ecstatic to get something from you.

_Sincerely,_

_Draco Malfoy_

_

* * *

August 1, 1994 _

_Dear Rast,_

Thanks so much for everything! I love it all! And I do see that you haven't forgotten what you learned, and I'm grateful for it. I wouldn't want to go through that stupid Rite again.

It's great to hear about the progress you've made on that potion. I know the twins will be pleased to hear that too. You should write to them also; I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.

I hope this roommate you're talking about isn't one of the dimwits you've told me like to hang around you. I don't think they'd contribute very much to the SG. In fact, they'd probably scare off all the other members. I know a couple people like that at my school and I'd rather hex them into tomorrow rather than let them join a club I was in.

This morning Dudley had another of his temper tantrums. Aunt Petunia caught him trying to sneak icing off the cake she'd made for a tea party she's going to later, and she said that if he didn't wise up, she'd take away his television. A television is a box that's similar to wizard pictures, only the people in it don't have life of their own. Anyway, she suggested this on the day that Dudley's favourite TV program is on and he exploded. The yelling shook the floor of my room. He ended up getting so mad that he accidentally kicked through the screen of his TV, which broke it obviously, so now he's off crying in his room about it. What's worse is that this is the second TV of his own that he's broken like that. I don't know if he'll get another one for a while.

That's the most excitement I've had around here. I wish the summer would be over so I could go back to school. At least I know that there, I'll never be bored.

Again, I loved the presents. Especially the book. I started reading it as soon as I'd unwrapped everything.

_Ahren_

P.S. I don't know yet. A friend of mine talked about it at the beginning of the summer, and he's given a few hints about it since, but I don't think his dad's gotten tickets yet. I'd love to meet up with you there, though. It'd be pretty cool meeting you, as long as you're not some pervert ax murderer or something.

_

* * *

August 4, 1994 _

_Dear Sirius,_

I'll have to ask him about that when we get back to school. It'll be hard to talk about it through letters since they could be intercepted and then people could find out that we've been writing, and that we've been writing you.

Draco _is_ extremely protective of me, but I can't believe he threatened you! I didn't think he was _that_ protective. I don't think there's really anything other than friendship between us, but I think he may want that to change. We are extremely good friends, though.

You wouldn't mind, would you, if we decided that we want to be more than friends?

And I'm really not that thin. I'm a lot bigger than I was when I started school, anyway.

I would tell you the most recent Dudley story, but I think Draco might tell it to you since he'll probably find it hilarious.

Glad you're doing well,

_Harry_


	7. Part II Ch VI The Serpent Guard

Background Secrets

Part II: Fourth Year

Chapter VI: The Serpent Guard

The first thing Harry noticed when he stepped back into his room after a meagre breakfast of apple slices and orange juice was the flock of owls sitting on his bed, all of whom were sitting next to several large packages. One was Hedwig, Harry saw with delight, and another was Errol, who looked half-dead again. The third owl seemed to be a school owl and Harry figured it was probably from Hagrid. A couple owls that Harry didn't recognize were sitting there too. He wasn't sure why they were all there at the same time, but he certainly wasn't complaining.

He decided to relieve Errol of his burden first and helped the feeble owl to Hedwig's cage so he could rest a bit before heading back over to the bed to open the largest package Errol had brought. Then his eyes widened in shock, for inside the large package was an elaborate birthday cake covered in sparkling bright blue frosting and signed by all of the Weasleys in silver. A knife and spatula sat next to the shimmering cake, waiting to be used.

He couldn't believe it; he'd completely forgotten that it was his birthday. The Dursleys had always refused to acknowledge it, and he'd been so busy with schoolwork and letter writing that he'd lost track of time. Annoyed with himself, he crossed over to the chart on his wall to tick off the last couple of days, which he'd forgotten. Then he hurried to open the other box Errol had brought and whatever Hermione and Hagrid had sent.

To his delight, surprise, and amusement, Ron's present turned out to be a box full of Honeydukes sweets and a Chudley Cannons card that Harry watched for a couple minutes before setting it on his bedside table. Hermione had sent a second birthday cake, one obviously homemade, and book about Defence Against the Dark Arts that Harry was rather eager to start reading, and a Muggle card that Harry set next to Ron's with a grin. Hagrid provided yet another cake (one that looked as though it had been sat on, like the first one he'd ever gotten from Hagrid) and another box of rock cakes (these he set aside immediately, like the others that he'd gotten, so he wouldn't mistakenly eat one).

The school owl flew off as soon as Harry took the package from it, and Hedwig flew off to perch on top of her cage, leaving the two owls that Harry didn't recognize. He wasn't sure who they could be from, but he had an idea as he eagerly took the first package from the large Great Horned Owl that held its leg out first.

This proved to be from Aaron and Oliver, though it was fairly obvious that Aaron was the one who'd picked out the gift: a book, _Wizardry in the New World: What We can Learn from the Native Americans_, and a dream catcher. The card they'd included was obviously from Oliver, however, since it depicted a Quidditch match, and Harry knew that Aaron secretly cared nothing for Quidditch. He was amazed that they would give him a present when they really didn't know him very well.

The last gift Harry knew would make Draco jealous if he found about it, for it was from Cedric. He'd sent another book, _Famous Seekers of our Time_; Harry saw, as he flipped through it, that Cedric had added a couple more entries in the very back of the book, one each for each of the Seekers at Hogwarts. He also included a card that at first appeared to be a Muggle creation, but as soon as he opened it, it sang "Happy Birthday" rather loudly and wouldn't shut up until Harry had jammed it under the floorboard under his bed.

He was extremely touched by both of these gifts, as well as a bit overwhelmed, since he couldn't remember ever getting more presents at one time. It was with a broad grin that Harry cut into Ron's cake and enjoyed a think slice of it as he looked through the book on Native American magic.

Around noon, he was startled when a dark shape suddenly filled his window. Hurrying over, he saw that it was a gigantic tropical bird, bigger than the last, and let it in at once. It almost had difficulty getting through the window. It dropped a large package onto Harry's bed before taking a quick drink out of Hedwig's water tray, much to her distaste, and flying off again.

Harry eagerly opened the package to find yet another birthday cake, a letter, and a book on mild to moderate hexes and jinxes. He frowned slightly as he read the letter and set it aside to answer later. He was too shocked to do much else; he had become accustomed to receiving gifts from Ron and Hermione, and even Hagrid, and it hadn't amazed him too much to get a cake from each of them either. Sirius, however, he'd thought might just send a card and a small present, but not a cake, and certainly not what looked like a highly useful book. He definitely appreciated his godfather more now.

Not long after dinner, while Harry was just finishing another piece of cake, Thiassi swooped in and landed on one of the bedposts, looking up at Errol curiously. Harry looked up from his position on the floor and laughed.

"That's Errol, Thiassi. He's the Weasley's owl."

Thiassi let out a soft trill of annoyance and hopped down off the bed to Harry's side, holding his leg out expectantly. Harry smiled as he took the package from the eagle owl, noting absently that it was about twice as big as last year's present. Thiassi nipped lightly at Harry's fingers and flew back up to perch on the bedpost again.

Harry opened the package just to find a second, slightly smaller box. This he took out and set aside because he had no doubt that it contained a fifth birthday cake, and frankly, he felt that four was quite enough. Under this box sat another, much smaller box about the size of his palm wrapped in green paper crawling with little black and silver snakes. Next to it sat a thick book called _Serpentine Servants_, which seemed to be about famous Slytherins and Parselmouths. Harry shook his head exasperated but did set the book on the top of the stack next to his bed. Under the book was a card with another Quidditch game playing on it, though he could tell after a moment of watching the players that they were the same two teams that had been on last year's card. The inside front cover of the card was covered in Draco's neat handwriting, and Harry was rather startled by the first line.

_Before you read further, open the wrapped box._

Surprised though he was, he followed the instruction and carefully took the wrapping paper off, folding it carefully to save it, and opened the equally as fancy box. Then, he just stared in disbelief. Sitting inside the box was a silver bracelet in the shape of two intertwining snakes, both with deep emerald eyes. He was completely confused; why would Draco send him something like this?

He turned back to the card, hoping that maybe it would have some answers.

_Dear Ahren,_

_This is a special bracelet that will only work for Parselmouths. Since you are one, obviously it would do you a lot more good than it does me. In theory, it will do whatever you ask it in Parseltongue, though it's mostly for protection...and I don't think it can kill, but everything else it should be able to do. I hope you like it, and the book, and the food._

_Rast_

Harry glanced unsurely at the bracelet. Draco had said that it should work "in theory." Did the mean he really had no idea what it was supposed to do?

Feeling a bit silly, Harry imagined the two snakes as being alive and hissed softly, "_Hello, my name is Harry Potter._"

Instantly, the snakes actually came to life and looked up at Harry with unblinking, but very alive-looking, eyes.

"_We are Lucian and Senka. What would you have us do?_"

Harry was rather startled by this, though his annoyance with Draco had completely disappeared. However, he couldn't go around school wearing a snake bracelet on his arm, not a visible one anyway.

"_Can you turn invisible?_"

"_We can_." To prove this, the bracelet vanished for a moment, just long enough for Harry to feel that it was still there, before reappearing again.

"Brilliant..." Harry hesitated, then slid the bracelet onto his right arm. He was slightly startled when it tightened just enough so that it wouldn't accidentally fall off.

"_Would you turn invisible again, please?_" he asked softly, glancing at his bedroom door. "_My aunt and uncle will try to take you away if they see you._"

"_We will._" In an instant, the snakes disappeared, though Harry could still feel their weight. He would have to ask Draco what else the bracelet could do when they got back to school.

Harry decided he couldn't put it off any longer and finally opened the box he assumed held another cake, blinking in surprise when he did. He'd been wrong; it wasn't a cake at all but a treacle tart. Harry smiled faintly and set the box of treacle tart on top of the cake boxes under the loose floorboard.

* * *

The morning after coming home from the World Cup, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys (minus Mr Weasley and Percy) had just sat down to breakfast when a large owl swooped in through the kitchen window and landed in front of Harry. It took less than half a second for Harry to recognize the owl and he took the offered letter with a relieved grin. 

"Thank Merlin, I thought maybe something had happened...thanks, Thiassi," he said, giving the waiting owl a bit of his bacon as thanks. Thiassi hooted softly and headed out again, though he turned up towards Ron's bedroom rather than away from the house.

"Is that from that Rast guy, Harry?" Ron asked after a moment of silence, since Harry had already opened the letter and didn't seem inclined to share anything.

"Yeah," Harry murmured absently, enraptured with the letter. He suddenly laughed softly and began turning though the pages of it. "He thinks I didn't go to the World Cup, so he wrote down everything that happened..."

"Who is this guy, Harry?" George asked, eyeing the letter with confusion. Harry glanced up at him with surprise until he remembered that he'd never told the twins about his and Draco's pen names.

"His name's Rastaban Arrakis. He's a pen pal I got last summer," he answered casually, though he briefly gave the twins a significant look as he said it. "He's really nice, though a bit arrogant."

George shrugged and went back to talking with his twin in hushed voices. This seemed to be good enough for the rest of the family as well as they soon went back to eating.

Later, just as Harry was leaving the kitchen, he was ambushed by the twins and dragged off outside. It startled him, but he wasn't worried, since the last time they'd ambushed him they'd given him the Marauder's Map. Besides, he knew what this would be about.

Fred and George stopped once they were out of hearing range of the house and hidden inside a patch of trees.

"So, who are you really writing to?" George asked, looking more confused than annoyed.

"Draco," Harry answered immediately, handing the letter over to the twins to read; he'd never planned to lie about this, after all.

"Yeah, sounds like him," Fred said as he gave the letter back to Harry. "Has he been writing to you all summer?"

"Yeah, we've been writing every day, sometimes several times a day." Harry smiled faintly as he stuck the letter back in its envelope. "He's told me that he's making a lot of progress on that potion for you guys and whatever his other project is."

"That's good to hear."

"And he said we're going to have a new member in the SG this year. He's been writing to one of his roommates, trying to convince him to join." Harry sighed softly. "He seems so busy..."

"Did he say who?"

"No, but he's hinted that it's not Crabbe or Goyle, thank Merlin."

"Yeah, can't have those idiots mucking up the SG," Fred laughed. "Well, I guess since Oliver's gone, we do need someone else. It was good to have an even number of people."

"Yes, but a Slytherin?" George questioned aloud as they started wondering away, almost as though they'd forgotten Harry was still there. A moment later, however, George turned back with a preoccupied expression.

"Do you mind telling us when you send him a reply so we can send a letter with it?"

"Sure," Harry answered, taken aback slightly.

"Thanks, Harry." They both grinned and waved before heading back to the house. Harry followed them shortly after, already going over his reply to Draco in his head.

"What was that about?" Ron asked as Harry stepped inside; he and Hermione had been waiting by the door for Harry and the twins to come back.

"They were asking about Dudley," Harry lied, pointedly making sure his voice was low enough that Mrs Weasley wouldn't hear.

As Ron laughed again at the memory and Hermione frowned in disapproval, Harry reflected that it was becoming a lot easier to lie to them.

* * *

_Dear Ahren,_

_It's great to hear you're all right! It's probably good that I didn't know you went to the Cup, or I would have worried._

_Merak and I saw each other again today and–_

"Is that another letter?" Ron asked as he sat down to lunch. He didn't look very happy; Flitwick had kept him after class to scold him for playing around; Harry had been at lunch for ten minute already.

"Yeah, so?"

"You've been writing to him a lot..." Ron observed as he started piling food onto his plate.

Harry raised an eyebrow, unsure of why this was coming up now. "Is that outlawed now? I wrote to you over the summer, too."

"And you kept disappearing last year..." Ron now seemed to just be thinking aloud.

"I was studying, or meeting with Fred and George or Oliver," Harry answered calmly. He could worm his way out of this; he'd done it all last year. "You can ask them if you don't believe me."

Ron blinked and seemed to come out of his reverie with a flush and wouldn't meet Harry's eyes. "Sorry, mate, I didn't mean to sound like I didn't trust you."

"It's alright, Ron," Harry answered, smiling faintly when Ron's mouth broke into a grin. Without another word, Harry went back to reading the letter.

–_we're getting along so well. I missed seeing him during the summer and I couldn't find him at the World Cup. It's just as well; he would have been terrified by what happened._

_We learned a new spell yesterday–well, the Professor thought it was new, but I've known it for ages: _Aparecium._ It can be used to reveal hidden writing, like of the backs of letters. You know it, don't you?_

Harry frowned slightly at this and glanced up to see if Draco was at the Slytherin table. It was easy to check since they'd taken to sitting across from each other near the end of the previous year so they could give each other silent messages. Draco caught Harry's eye and merely smiled at the silent question before turning back to his conversation with a black boy Harry thought was in their year. Harry turned back to the letter and read over the last couple lines again.

_Aparecium_...he was sure he'd heard it before, probably from Hermione. That was right, Hermione had used it in second year on Riddle's diary, but it hadn't done anything because there was no writing to reveal. Hoping that this time there would be, Harry flipped the letter over, tapped the parchment three tipped with his wand, and whispered, "_Aparecium_."

Instantly, writing appeared on the page. Harry briefly glanced up at Draco again before starting to read what he'd written.

_To SG member, Harry Potter:_

_Our first meeting of the year will be on Saturday, September 6 after lunch. I'll be bringing one new member who's very eager to meet everyone. If you have a problem with the time, write me back, since we should all be there._

_See you soon,_

_Draco_

Harry read over it again, then looked up at Draco for a third time and nodded with a brief smile. Draco grinned back and almost immediately turned away again.

* * *

Harry smiled as he stepped through the mirror on Saturday; it looked like everyone from the SG had answered Draco's summons, except Oliver, who was no longer at school. Of course, without him, there seemed to be about ten fewer people than before, but it was still nice to see the rest of them again. He sat down next to Cedric and looked around with a faint frown. 

"Draco's not here yet?"

"Nope. Who appointed him leader anyway?"

Harry laughed, shaking his head. "I think he appointed himself."

Cedric laughed as well. "He would do something like that." Then he smiled faintly and added, "Did you get your present okay?"

"Oh, yeah, it was great," Harry answered earnestly, gaining a slightly sheepish smile. "It'll probably be falling apart soon, from how often I've looked though it. Sorry I didn't thank you earlier."

"It's alright. I'm glad you liked it." Cedric glanced up at the mirror and gently nudged Harry. "Hey, your boyfriend's here."

Harry blushed lightly, but got up to go greet Draco anyway. As soon as he got close enough, Draco pulled him into a deep kiss that made his blush grow about ten times worse. Harry blinked dazedly at Draco when the Slytherin finally let go and smirked down at him.

"Hormones finally catching up?"

Harry glared slightly and hit him lightly on the chest. "What was that for?"

"I missed you," Draco answered, looking faintly hurt." Did you like your presents?"

"I told you did in my letter," Harry said with a slight roll of his eyes. He held up his wrist and added, "_Please show yourselves_–see, I'm still wearing the bracelet."

Draco smiled, his eyes only briefly flickering over the silver snakes. "I'm glad. C'mon, let's sit down so I can introduce you to my guests."

Harry frowned slightly. "You said you were only bringing one person."

"I know, but Angelo overheard me talking to Blaise about it and asked if he could come." Draco gestured to the two people hovering by the mirror behind him. One was the black boy Draco had been talking with at breakfast for the past couple days, whom Harry had thought was in their year.

The other boy looked to be about the twins' age and Harry didn't recognize him at all. He was, however, extremely attractive; he was the tall, dark, and handsome stranger that girls were always told they were going to meet by Muggle fortunetellers. He looked to be about as tall or taller than the twins and was paler than Draco, as if he'd never set foot in sunlight in his life. Wavy black hair with red highlights through the fringe fell just past his ears and completely over one of his deep hazel eyes. Black and red seemed to be the only colour on him, even in his clothing, and it made the minute bit of green in the Slytherin crest on his robes look quite out of place.

"This is Blaise Zabini," Draco said, gesturing to the black boy, "And Angelo Haemon. Blaise is in my and Harry's year, and Angelo's a sixth year."

Blaise just scowled at Draco before taking a seat at the opposite end of the sofa where Cedric was sitting, eyeing them all distastefully. Obviously, Draco hadn't told him that the rest of the SG was comprised of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

Angelo, however, stepped forward with a sultry smile and bowed to all of them.

"I am honoured to be able to meet all of you," he said in a rich tenor. "Especially those of you whom I have never met before."

Draco looked surprised at this for about a second, then he gained a look of comprehension. "That's right; we have four other sixth years."

Angelo nodded once and headed over to sit next to Aaron, who had been staring at him in disbelief. "I know Aaron, also."

"We're both in the N.E.W.T. Divination classes, though I'm a year ahead of him," Aaron explained when the others looked completely nonplussed.

"Far from that, we have known of each other since my first year," Angelo added.

"Wow," Draco murmured as he sat down in the loveseat and pulled Harry down with him. "I had no idea."

Aaron laughed softly. "No, most people don't expect a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin to get along, especially if they're not in the same year. We probably wouldn't if he was the older one."

"Well, we all should probably introduce ourselves," Draco said after a moment, "since not everyone knows everyone else. I'm Draco Malfoy, and this is Harry Potter," he added quickly before Harry could open his moth. The brunet glared at him.

"I can speak for myself, you know."

"Fred and George Weasley," the twin said with a grin, briefly nodding to Blaise since they already knew Angelo, "and our boyfriend Lee Jordan."

Harry and Lee caught each other's eyes and shared an exasperated look.

"I'm Cedric Diggory–" he held his hand out the Blaise, who took it with a look of surprise– "and I have a girlfriend, so I'm the odd man out here."

"Aaron Eaglesight," Aaron said with a slight dip of his head to Blaise. "I'm bonded with Oliver Wood, who left last year."

Blaise glanced at Draco with a dubious look on his face. "I'm not sure this is such a great idea, Draco..."

"Of course it is," Draco answered, waving of Blaise's unease. "I spent half the summer trying to convince you of that."

Harry looked between them curiously. "What's not a good idea?"

Draco grinned impishly. "Well, you see, Blaise here rather fancies–"

"Draco, if you tell, so help me Merlin, you're going to pay–"

"–Seamus Finnigan."

Blaise groaned and covered his eyes with one hand. Harry just blinked in surprise and looked between them again.

"Seamus? Really?"

"Oh yes. He's got _quite_ the crush on your Irish roommate."

Blaise glared warningly at them. "Quit making fun of me. _Your_ infatuation with the black-haired Wonder Boy next to you is far worse than mine."

Draco's cheeks gained a faintly pink tint while Harry's coloured darkly.

"I wasn't trying to make fun of you, Blaise," Harry said softly, willing his face to go back to normal. "I was just surprised."

Blaise, startled by Harry's use of his first name, just looked sulkily away at the fire.

"Anyway," Draco said, obviously trying to get Harry's attention back on himself, "I was thinking you could find out whether Finnigan has given any thought to our friend here."

Harry choked slightly and stared at Draco in disbelief. "You're kidding! I can't ask him something like that! Why would...that's...why me?"

"Well, you're his roommate and you've talked about things like this with him before, right?"

"No! We never talk about this kind of thing."

Draco sighed heavily and gave Harry an annoyed look. "You're not making this very easy."

"Of course not! How do you expect me to ask Seamus whether he fancies anyone, much less a Slytherin boy?"

"We'll ask him," Fred interrupted, sharing a grin with his twin. Both forth year Slytherins looked relieved.

"You will?" Blaise asked, just barely keeping a hopeful tone from his voice.

"Sure. It looks like you've got it bad, so he might too," George answered teasingly.

Blaise glared weakly back though he did murmur softly, "Thanks."

"What about you, Angelo?" Cedric asked after a moment. Harry smiled faintly; Cedric really did try to be friends with everyone. Next to him, Draco let out a soft sniff and grabbed one of Harry's hands.

"I am dating someone," Angelo answered, a wistful smile playing at his lips. "I should like to bring him sometime, if that is acceptable."

Aaron glanced at him with a startled expression. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why not?" Harry asked, bewildered. Aaron started and immediately looked embarrassed.

"It's nothing. It's a great idea."

"So, what about the Triwizard Tournament?" Cedric started before anything else could be said. "Anyone going to enter? I know I am. It sounds like a blast."

"Are you seventeen, Cedric?" Harry asked, remembering that Amos Diggory had said that his son couldn't Apparate yet.

"Not yet, but my birthday's next week." Cedric suddenly gave Harry a sympathetic look, adding, "It's too bad it's only for students of age, though. I think you'd do really well."

"No thanks," Harry answered with a sheepish smile and a shake of his head. "I've had enough excitement at Hogwarts to last the rest of my life."

"Well, we're going to try to enter," George said with a smirk, "even though we won't be seventeen until April. We wouldn't miss this opportunity for all of Gringotts."

"_You_ might be exited about it," Draco muttered sulkily, "but it means Quidditch is cancelled for the whole year. I didn't know they'd do that when Father told me about the Tournament."

"Yeah, that's a bit of a bummer," Fred agreed. "But we can always beat you next year."

"Oliver wants me to enter," Aaron said with a slight roll of his eyes, "though I think it may be only because he can't himself. And he said he's going to try to come to one of the tasks regardless of whether I'm picked or not."

"I am going to enter as well," Angelo said with a faint smirk, though it soon turned into a grimace. "So is Warrington; I heard him mention it last night."

"Ugh, no! We can't have that idiot represent Hogwarts!" Harry protested with disgust.

Draco started snickering softly at Blaise's reaction to the statement and whispered softly into Harry's ear, "Better be careful, Harry. I'm not the only Slytherin anymore, and not everyone has such a high opinion of you..."

* * *

A couple days into October found Harry wandering around the seventh floor at midnight under his Invisibility Cloak. His troubled thoughts about Sirius wouldn't let him sleep, and as he didn't have Quidditch to wear him out anymore, he was taking out his restlessness the best way he could. Of course, he was checking the Marauder's Map every few minutes to make sure he didn't run into anyone, and so far, he'd completely avoided Filch, Mrs. Norris, and Peeves. 

As he turned a corner and glanced down at the map again, his eyes widened in surprise. Swiftly moving up the stairs to the seventh floor was a small dot labelled _Angelo Haemon_. Harry had no idea what Angelo might be doing eight floors above him dorm, but he wasn't keen on finding out either. So far, he'd only had a chance to talk to the older boy twice, and while he had found Angelo both charming and extremely attractive (from a completely objective point of view, of course), he also thought the Slytherin was a tad...creepy. He couldn't explain why, since Angelo had been rather friendly with him both times they'd spoken. Instinctively, however, he felt that he did not want to meet Angelo in an abandoned corridor in the middle of the night.

He hid behind the man-sized vase at the end of the corridor just as Angelo turned the corner and walked past. The sixth year seemed to be rather intent on whatever he was doing as he stood purposefully down the corridor, and Harry thought he might just be able to get away without being noticed. Then, not far past the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, Angelo abruptly turned around and doubled back and Harry was so startled that he shifted and the Map crackled in his hands.

Instantly, Angelo froze and looked straight in his direction, eyes narrowed slightly. Harry stared back at him with wide eyes, completely petrified as though he'd been hit by a Body-Bind Curse. They remained like this for several minutes until Angelo finally crossed his arms and smirked.

"You can show yourself now, Harry. I am the only one here."

Harry didn't want to know how Angelo knew he was the one hiding, nor did he want to come out. He stayed still and held his breath, hoping that the Slytherin would ignore whatever it was that had told him he was there and go back to what he'd been doing before.

Nothing doing. If anything, this just made Angelo more determined to get him to come out. His smirk turned to one of amusement as he murmured, "I can see you, Harry, like a bright red flame in the darkness. Come now, it is not very nice to hide from your friends. **Come out**."

Harry wasn't sure why he did it, though it may have been because, for a moment, Angelo's voice seemed to change so that he wanted nothing more than to obey the older boy's wishes. When he realized what he was doing, the Invisibility Cloak was already halfway off and he'd stepped out of the shadow of the giant vase; the damage had been done. He sighed and draped the cloak over his arm, then hastily stuffed the Map into one of his pockets.

"How could you see me?" Harry asked curiously, fighting down any irrational panic.

Angelo just smiled mysteriously. "Aaron would be able to see you as well, if he paid attention."

Harry blinked in surprise. "How?"

"He has probably already told you. He is horrible at keeping secrets."

Harry let out an irritated sigh; that didn't answer the question at all. He decided to try again. "What are you doing up here?"

"I have business up here," Angelo answered, looking, if anything, more amused. "Why are _you_ out so late?"

"I couldn't sleep," Harry replied with a shrug, briefly letting himself relax a bit before he tensed again and gave Angelo a suspicious look. "But it's after curfew for all students..."

"I have special permission from the Headmaster to be out at night," Angelo said softly. "Of course, I do not believe he knows that I usually come up here rather than stay down in the dungeons."

"You have...why–"

"**Come here, Harry**," Angelo murmured, cutting him off. His voice had regained that odd quality that made Harry want to do nothing but obey. Harry shook himself out of it as soon as he stopped in front of Angelo and stared cautiously up at him.

"How are you doing that?"

"How am I doing what? **Stay still**," Angelo ordered softly, for Harry had tried to shift away when he'd reached up to touch Harry's glasses.

"That," Harry answered, his blood running cold when he found he couldn't move. "Making me do things. It's not–"

"It's not the Imperious Curse, no," Angelo murmured with amusement, his fingers absently trailing through the younger boy's hair. "It is merely a gift of mine."

"What do you want with me?" Harry asked shakily, unable to help but panic slightly. He hadn't told anyone that he was going out, obviously a bad plan in retrospect, and he knew next to nothing about this sixth year. If Angelo had this kind of power, what else could he do?

Of course, it didn't really help that the older boy was obviously hitting on him and he could honestly say that he wasn't enjoying it, which just made him more uneasy. He still wasn't sure that he didn't actually like girls, but this seemed to be dashing all those hopes.

"Not much," Angelo answered before he leaned down to press his lips against Harry's. Harry's eyes widened and he immediately tried to pull away, but the order to stay still was still affecting him. After a moment, he wasn't even sure that he wanted to get away, since he really was enjoying it, and it was much different than Draco's kisses, but he could only imagine Draco's reaction if he even found out about this, and he didn't want to hurt Draco like that. Then his thoughts started getting fuzzy, and he started feeling sleepy, and he couldn't worry or panic anymore.

"Angelo!"

The harsh voice cut through the fog and Harry felt as though he'd been dunked in ice water. He immediately back away from Angelo, who was actually looking faintly worried for once.

The source of the voice that was Harry's saviour was an older boy standing right behind Angelo, and they looked like complete opposites. Although, they were both extremely pale, this boy seemed to glow because of it rather than appear pallid; also, though they both had red studs in their ears, this boy also had an inverted cross hanging from one ear that mirrored the pendant hanging from his neck. In addition, this boy had long blond hair drawn up in a ponytail with a couple strands hanging loose to frame his handsome face. The most apparent difference was in how they dressed; this boy was clad completely in white under his black school robes.

However, Harry was slightly unnerved to see that this new boy was regarding him with a look that rivalled what he was accustomed to seeing on Snape's face.

Angelo turned and gave the boy a sultry smile. "Come, Kiran, you know I meant nothing by it. **Shall we go discuss it somewhere?**"

"Like back in the common room?" Kiran suggested coldly, obviously unaffected by the command in Angelo's voice or his smile. "Yes, why don't we?"

Clearly, this was not what Angelo had intended, but he recovered quickly and stepped aside to let Kiran go first. "Of course, the common room. And then perhaps somewhere more comfortable, like in bed..."

Kiran gained a slightly exasperated look on his face that disappeared as soon as he realized that Harry was still there. "You're lucky we're in the same House, Angelo, or I would be able to escape you."

Angelo laughed softly and hurried to catch up with Kiran. "You always say that, but you have never meant it."

"And if you lose control again, I'll report you to the Headmaster."

Angelo seemed to be a bit more subdued at these words. "You have said that as well, but you have never done it."

"This is different; you're lucky I'm not reporting you this time. Attacking _Harry Potter_ of all people...it's as if you _want_ to be thrown out. No other school will take you; you're lucky Dumbledore's as crazy as he is or you'd be learning at home..."

Harry strained to hear Angelo's response, but they'd turned a corner and were too far away to hear. His thoughts were racing as he flung his Invisibility Cloak back on and dashed back to Gryffindor Tower. What was so unusual about Angelo that no one would let him in his or her school except Dumbledore? And why on earth did Angelo kiss him like that if he had a boyfriend?

* * *

"Hey Potter, could I have a moment?" 

Harry stopped, startled, and looked warily over at Blaise, whose head was poking out of a nearby empty classroom. Why was Blaise calling on him in front of the rest of the school? He opened his mouth to respond, but Ron beat him to it.

"What do you want, Zabini? Is Malfoy too scared to come hex Harry himself?"

Both Harry and Hermione protested, "Ron!" and Blaise scowled at him before turning back to Harry. "It's important, and we'll both miss class if you stall any longer."

Harry glanced warily at Ron before he nodded and walked over. "All right."

"Harry, you can't be serious!" Ron exclaimed as Harry followed Blaise into the classroom. "He's a Slytherin!"

"You're welcome to watch through the window if you're so concerned," Blaise said with another scowl, gesturing up at the tiny window near the top of the door before he shut it behind Harry. Ron looked dumbfounded for a moment before he marched up to the door and stood up on his tiptoes to look through the window.

"I can't believe Harry would agree to talk with him; it's obviously a trap..."

"_Obviously_, he's trying to promote school unity, which is more than I can say about you," Hermione said disapprovingly. "Zabini's never given us any problems. He usually doesn't even hang out with Malfoy."

"He's a _Slytherin_, Hermione. They _all_ hate Harry."

Inside the classroom, Blaise led Harry to the back and perched on one of the dusty desks, effectively giving him a few inches height on Harry.

"Some bodyguard you've got, Potter," Blaise said with a faint smirk, his head jerking toward the door. Harry glanced over and rolled his eyes when he saw Ron's red hair and eyes poking over the window frame.

"He doesn't trust you, 'cause you're a Slytherin, I bet. Not surprising considering how Draco's treated us in public for the past three years." Harry shrugged and leaned back against one of the desks. "What did you want to talk about?"

Blaise turned serious again and took in a deep breath. "Look, Potter–"

"Harry," Harry interrupted with a patient look.

Blaise scowled at him but nodded once. "Harry. I know we're not really friends yet, but I still felt I should warn you. Draco won't do it; he fancies them both and won't say a bad word about either of them."

Harry's chest tightened slightly at these words but he wasn't sure why and ignored the feeling in favour of asking, "What it is?"

"Stay away from Angelo," Blaise answered firmly. "I know what he did the other night; everyone does, he and Kiran were arguing about it so loudly. He's really lucky Professor Snape heard and forbade us from saying anything about it, or it would be all over the school by now."

"You won't get in trouble for telling me, will you?"

"No, don't worry; he didn't put a spell on us or anything." Blaise suddenly turned stern again and leaned forward slightly. "What Angelo did–it's not his fault; that's just the way he is, and he feels horrible about it. But it's obvious to everyone that he's attracted to you, so don't give him a reason to do anything about that."

Harry blushed lightly but he was also frowning in confusion. "What do you mean 'that's just the way he is'?"

Blaise sighed and shook his head, sitting up straight again. "No one outside our House and the teachers is supposed to know. It's his choice if he tells anyone else. I can tell you that he's really lucky to be able to go to school here. Strictly speaking, he shouldn't be allowed a wand, but Dumbledore thinks that anyone that can do magic should be given a chance to learn how to use it. That, and he got eight 'Outstanding' O.W.L.s and three 'Exceeds Expectations.' But the Ministry really hates him and they'd love a chance to him thrown out. He's on shaky ground already; you're not the first student he's attacked, though you're probably the first Gryffindor."

"He didn't attack–"

"Stay away from him, Harry," Blaise repeated sternly as he jumped down from the desk and headed toward the door. "Don't give him a chance to come after you again. Quit wandering the halls at night, and have another person around if you ever talk to him."

"Blaise, wait!"

Blaise paused with one hand on the door handle and looked back with one elegant eyebrow raised.

Harry suddenly felt rather embarrassed but asked anyway, "Who did you say Draco fancies?"

Blaise smirked slightly. "Kiran and Angelo. Can't blame him, though; they are the two hottest guys in the school. But you don't need to worry about that; he's completely infatuated with you."

This made Harry blush rather heavily and he was rather thankful when Blaise waited for the colour to fade but he left. Harry could hear him greet Ron and Hermione amicably as he walked away.

"So what did he want?" Ron asked as Harry stepped out of the classroom.

"He was just warning me about an older student that might give me problems," Harry answered with a shrug. "He was pretty nice about it."

He smiled to himself as he started toward Defence Against the Dark Arts again and heard his friends slowly follow, Ron muttering under his breath.

* * *

No sooner had Harry stepped through the mirror on Monday night than he was assaulted by a certain white-blond Slytherin. Not that he was complaining, as he'd been missing Draco and his kisses since he'd run into Angelo those few weeks ago. That didn't stop him from turning rather red both when Draco slowly broke off the kiss and when a soft snicker come from one of the other occupants of the room. 

"Look, you may have missed each other," came Fred's voice, "but you're giving Blaise a heart attack."

Draco laughed as he pulled away from Harry and dragged him over to their loveseat. "That's because he doesn't have anyone to snag yet."

"Shut it, Draco," Blaise snarled out; Draco just grinned at him.

"So, who are we supposed to be meeting today?" Lee asked curiously, glancing over at the mirror.

"Angelo's boyfriend. He said that he wanted to make sure Angelo stays his." Draco rolled his eyes slightly. "He's far too protective."

"You're one to talk," Harry murmured. "I don't think you'd let me speak to anyone if you had your way."

Draco huffed and looked away haughtily as the rest of them laughed. "Forget that kiss I was going to give you later..."

"Does that mean I can have him?"

They both looked up, startled, to find Angelo smiling down at them over the back of the loveseat. Harry quickly looked away before he had a chance to embarrass himself and met a pair of narrowed golden eyes that seemed slightly familiar.

"No," Draco was saying, his hand tightening around one of Harry's. "You have your own boyfriend. Harry's mine."

"That's right, Angelo, you have your own boyfriend. Are you going to introduce him or keep flirting with that fourth year?"

The harsh voice snapped Harry out of his trance and he realized with horror that the golden eyes he'd been staring into belonged to Kiran, his would-be saviour who seemingly hated him.

Angelo straightened and Kiran a faint smile. "You are far too jealous. You know that I only have eyes for you."

"Sometimes I have to wonder when you're flirting with half the school," Kiran answered humourlessly as he stepped forward.

"You know that I never mean any of that," Angelo said with a laugh, somehow finding comfort in Kiran's words. He stepped over and wrapped an arm around Kiran's waist, pulling him further forward. "This is Kiran Erebos," he said to all of them, "my boyfriend and overly jealous lover."

"Lucky that I am or you'd be a danger." Kiran bowed once to them, the same way Angelo had a month and a half before. "Regardless of what you're all thinking, I truly do want to be here. I'm not just here to keep Angelo's hands to himself."

Fred snorted softly and grinned at Kiran; from the looks on his and others' faces, Harry could tell that only Aaron had ever been properly introduced to Kiran. "A pleasure to meet you," Fred said sincerely. "We're–"

"I know who you are," Kiran interrupted, holding up a hand to stop Fred. "It's one reason I agreed to come."

Fred looked rather taken aback, but George grinned. "It's great to have you here. We're always looking for more people to join us."

But as the rest of them nodded and Kiran awkwardly transfigured a couple boulders into another loveseat for himself and Angelo, Harry felt that he was soon going to dread having Kiran there. He had no doubt that the tall blond hated him, and he really had no idea why. He hadn't done anything to get on Kiran's bad side, but obviously he was there and it was going to be a long struggle to get out.

* * *

After sending his owl to Sirius telling how he'd been picked for the Triwizard Tournament even though he had no idea how his name had gotten in the Goblet of Fire, Harry and Hermione headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Neither of them said anything, mostly because Harry was too annoyed with the world and too preoccupied with figuring out how he was going to convince his friends in the SG that he hadn't done anything and was a victim. He was extremely glad to get back to the Tower, since Hermione had been giving him anxious and sympathetic looks the whole way there. 

As soon as they stepped through the portrait hole, Harry shook off Hermione and dashed up to his dorm. He said a quick hello to Neville, who was sitting up in bed reading the book Moody had lent him, then pulled out a quill, ink, and parchment and sat back against his bed to figure out what to write.

'_Let's see...'_ Harry started counting off on his fingers, _'The twins and Lee are one, then Angelo and Kiran, Cedric, Aaron, Draco, and Blaise. That's six.'_

He tore six pieces off the parchment and wrote the same short message on all of them:

_Meet at the SGC asap. Urgent. I need to talk to everyone. Harry_

The name for their meeting place had come from, of all people, Kiran, who claimed that it was just like having their own common room, and it had stuck with the rest of them.

Harry added a line to the twin's and Draco's asking them to bring food if they could, then stuffed all the notes in his pocket and dashed out of the dorm, through the common room, and out the portrait hole.

He knew he had to convince everyone that he really hadn't put his name in the goblet. He wasn't sure if he could take it if the only person who believed him was Hermione. He was sure that Draco would believe him, and Aaron had probably Seen that he was innocent or asked one of the ghosts about it, but he wasn't sure about anyone else. He _knew_ Cedric didn't believe him.

"Harry, you git!"

Harry froze with one foot on the stairs of the Owlery and looked back in horror; Draco was stalking toward him with a murderous look on his face and a letter clenched in one fist. He looked around frantically as Draco got closer, but luckily, no one was around, though he didn't know how long it would stay that way.

"Harry, when I get my hands on you–"

"Not here, Draco!" Harry exclaimed before he raced up the stairs to the Owlery. He could hear Draco thundering up the stairs behind him.

Harry stopped in the middle of the Owlery to wait for Draco to catch up. It didn't take long, and he almost wished he'd run back to Gryffindor Tower when he'd had the chance. Draco still looked murderous when he stalked into the room and straight up to Harry, leaving barely a foot between them.

"How could you?" Draco demanded angrily. "You said you didn't want to enter, and then you go behind everyone and figure out how to put your name in? How could you! I thought you hated attention! Do you know what hearing your name last night did you me? How could you! Do you have any idea–"

"Draco, shut up!"

Draco fell silent immediately, looking surprised; Harry didn't usually stop him in the middle of a rant.

"Thank you. Now listen. I didn't put my name in the goblet, and I didn't ask an older student to do it for me. I have no idea how it got in there, or why, although Moody reckons it's to get me killed. All right? I didn't put my name in."

"You didn't put your name in," Draco repeated slowly.

Harry shook his head. "And I don't know who did."

Draco frowned and studied Harry's face for a long while. Harry wasn't sure what he was looking for, but since he knew he wasn't lying, he was sure Draco would believe him.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked suspiciously.

Harry sighed and gave Draco a pained look. "Please, Draco, I've already had a row with Ron about this. I don't want to lose you too."

After another long moment, Draco pressed a brief kiss to Harry's lips and gave him a breathtaking smile. "I believe you."

"You do?" Harry asked, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Yes, but I'm still upset about all this. You could die..." Draco looked stricken for a moment before giving Harry another smile and asking, "Who were you going to send letters to?"

"Oh! The rest of the SG. Here, this is yours." Harry fished the notes out of his pocket and handed Draco his. "I need to talk to everyone about what happened. I've already sent a letter to Sirius. What about you?" he added, gesturing at the parchment in Draco's hand.

Draco started and suddenly looked faintly uncomfortable. "You. But it isn't important now."

"Ah, let me guess. It's a letter saying everything you just yelled at me."

"Yeah."

Harry smiled and shook his head slightly before looking around at all the owls. "Do you think I should use one owl or five?"

"One. It's only going to SG members after all."

Harry nodded and finally selected a large barn owl. "This is going to several people, okay, and they're all in the castle," he told the owl as he tied the notes to one leg. The owl hooted importantly and flew off as soon as Harry was finished. Above them, Hedwig gave a disgruntled hoot. Harry looked up and opened his mouth to say something apologetic, but Draco had noticed the snowy owl as well and got there first.

"Hello, Hedwig, do you remember me? How are you this morning?" he called, holding out an arm. Hedwig flew down and gave an annoyed trill as she landed, obviously turned away from Harry. Draco smiled faintly as he reached up to pet her with his other hand.

"So Harry's the problem, hmm? Geeze, Potter, don't you know how to treat a lady?" he taunted playfully. Harry gave him a helpless look but found he couldn't say anything; Draco smiling and holding his owl was too stunning a sight and stole away all his words.

Draco seemed to realize this and murmured a goodbye to Hedwig as she flew off. Then he held a hand out to Harry and gave him a smile of his own. "C'mon, let's go get that food you wanted."

Harry took Draco's hand with a faint blush and followed him out of the Owlery.

rsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrs

They met the twins on the second floor and were redirected back up to the fourth, as the two Weasleys said they could get all the food needed, so they made their way to the SGC in comfortable silence. Luckily, they didn't meet anyone on the way and were, unsurprisingly, the first ones to step into the common room.

Cedric came in shortly after and gave Harry a slightly strained smile as he sat down, then looked away at the fireplace. Obviously, he still didn't believe Harry's story.

The twins came in next with Lee, all three of them laden down with food. George managed to pat Harry on the back as they passed and Fred asked heartily as they piled the food on the coffee table, "So, Harry, what is this about? Going to tell us how you managed to enter after all?"

"No," Harry answered firmly. "But it does have to do with that."

He felt a twinge of guilt when he saw that Cedric's expression had changed to a far more unhappy one and hoped that the others would hurry so he could clear everything up.

Aaron stepped through next, accompanied by Kiran, who looked strangely lonely and nervous without Angelo around. Harry figured this was more because of how Angelo acted without Kiran around than actually missing him. Aaron gave Harry a friendly look as he passed and Harry relaxed a bit; he'd been right about Aaron knowing what had really happened.

Angelo came in on his own, followed shortly by Blaise and, to Harry's surprise, Seamus, who seemed completely unsurprised by the members in the group. Blaise must have warned him about who would be there, though he did still look faintly uncomfortable as he sat between Blaise and Cedric. Across the table, Harry noticed the twins exchanged proud looks and knew instantly that they must have gone though with their promise after all.

Harry suddenly felt very self-conscious, as every eye in the room but Cedric's turned expectantly onto him. Draco gave his hand a comforting squeeze and he took a deep breath to calm himself before starting.

"I asked you all here to explain about what happened last night," he began softly, "or what I know happened anyway."

"But you said–"

"I'm _not_ going to explain how my name got in the goblet," Harry said, interrupting Lee with an impatient look, "because I don't know the answer. I have no idea how my name got in there."

He took another deep breath before continuing, "I went to bed on Friday night with my dorm mates and got up Saturday morning with the rest of Gryffindor. I was with Hermione and Ron down at Hagrid's all day yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to put my name in then. The only older students I know well are you guys and my Quidditch team, and you all know I didn't ask any of you to put my name in. There's no way I could have gotten over the Age Line on my own, either; even Fred and George didn't manage that. I have no idea how my name got in that goblet, or how it could have come out when we already had a much better Hogwarts champion."

Here he tried to smile at Cedric, but the older boy seemed determined not to look at him. He looked helplessly at the rest of the group, but the only believing faces he could see were Aaron's and Angelo's; Kiran was staring at him with clear annoyance, the twins and Lee looked completely dubious, Seamus seemed to be waiting for the punch line of a joke, and Blaise looked politely bewildered.

"So why should we believe you?" Kiran asked after a long moment, his voice dripping distain. "We have no proof that you're telling the truth. _Some_ of us don't know you well enough to simply take your word for it."

Harry almost felt like screaming–of course, Kiran _would_ feel that way; he hated Harry–but Draco quickly came to his rescue.

"I believe him," the smaller blond said firmly. "Harry explained all that to me earlier, and I believe him. And I was ticked at him this morning too."

Kiran scowled and turned his sneer on Draco. "Of course _you_ do. You're–"

"As do I," Aaron interrupted, giving Kiran a stern look. "And I _do_ have proof that Harry didn't put his name in the goblet. And so does your boyfriend, so you should already know that Harry's being truthful, Kiran."

Kiran scowled at him but seemed placated for the time being.

"How do you know?" Blaise asked curiously.

"I Saw it," Aaron answered calmly. "And the Grey Lady confirmed for me this morning that she didn't see Harry anywhere near the Goblet of Fire Friday night."

"Wait, so do you know who did put my name in?" Harry asked eagerly.

Aaron shook his head. "Unfortunately, no, my vision was not that precise. However, I can also tell from your aura right now that you're being truthful, and that's enough for me.

Angelo nodded in agreement. "I can see that for myself as well. Unfortunately, we can not make auras visible to others; it takes far too much time and energy."

"Well, if Aaron says it's true..." Fred shrugged and Harry an apologetic sort of grin. "Sorry we didn't believe you, Harry."

"It's okay," Harry said with a relieved smile; he was just glad they believed _someone_, even if it wasn't him.

"I don't get it; why should it matter so much what he thinks?" Seamus suddenly asked as Blaise nodded in agreement. Harry stared dumbfounded at them for a moment before he remembered that they didn't really know anything about Aaron.

"Aaron's a Seer, a real one, not like that fraud Trelawney," Draco answered before anyone else.

"Trelawney's not always a fraud," Harry murmured, remembering the real prediction she'd made the previous June.

"I've heard horror stories, believe me," Draco answered with a scowl. He turned back to Seamus and Blaise and added, "Aaron's prediction have never been wrong. Usually when he says something like this, he's right."

"And the ghosts really like him, so they'll always tell him anything he needs to know," Harry added, unsure of whether Seamus would believe anything Draco said.

"Oh." Seamus glanced at Aaron with a little more respect, then turned back to Harry with a bewildered expression. "But if you didn't put your name in, who did?"

"I have no idea," Harry answered, shaking his head. "But Moody reckons whoever did it wants me killed, since there's a pretty good chance I'll die in this tournament and it'll look like an accident. Knowing my record, he's probably right."

"We'll find out who put your name in, Harry," Draco said adamantly, "and you're not going to die in the tournament. I'll make sure of that."

"Thanks Draco," Harry said with a small smile and a brief kiss to one of Draco's cheeks. Then he looked worriedly over at Cedric, who had yet to look away from the fireplace. "Cedric, do you believe me?"

Cedric didn't answer immediately and when he did, it was with a slightly dejected tone. "I don't know, Harry. I _want_ to, I really do, and I know Aaron is never wrong, so I should believe you. And don't get me wrong, I'm really psyched to compete against you again."

He sighed and finally looked over at Harry with a helpless expression. "But you have to understand, my whole House was counting on me, and we never get chances like this. Hufflepuff never gets any glory or praise, and no one takes us seriously. This is our big chance to prove we're just as good as the other Houses, and you sort of ruined that.

"I really do want to believe you, and I'm sure somewhere I do, and I'm going to be a good sport because I'm excited to play you again and I can tell you didn't want this, but I can't help but feel a bit bitter like the rest of my House. You understand, don't you?"

"Yeah, I understand," Harry answered with a nod. He gave Cedric a small smile and added, "I think I'm a bit excited to compete against you too."

Cedric laughed and grinned back. "Excellent."

"All right, I think everything's been cleared up now," Draco interrupted, glaring a bit at Cedric as he squeezed Harry's hand to remind him that he was still there. "So, Harry, what is all the food for?"

Harry gave him a faintly exasperated smile before he answered, "Well, I wasn't sure how long this would take, so I thought we could have lunch down here, but also, I heard that it was Angelo's birthday yesterday, so it's also to have a party for him."

Angelo blinked in surprise. "Who told you that?"

"Aaron. Why, was he wrong?"

"No, I was merely surprised because few people know when my birthday is." Angelo smiled serenely. "Thank you, Harry."

Harry's breath caught briefly because of the smile, but this time, Draco didn't seem to notice.

"All right then, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry," Fred said, suddenly standing up. "Let's party."

rsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrs

After about an hour, Draco pulled Harry aside and dragged him over to the bed where they could have a little privacy. Harry managed to only look bewildered and not embarrassed when the twins snickered and grinned at each other.

Draco didn't even seem to notice the others as he looked seriously at Harry and said softly, "We need to talk about what's going to happen now."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, completely nonplussed.

"I mean that _I_ may be on your side about this whole tournament thing, but my House is not," Draco answered, looking distinctly unhappy about this. "They're going to expect me to do something to you."

Harry smiled faintly, still looking slightly confused. "So, do something to me. You know I can handle anything you deal out."

Draco shook his head, looking faintly annoyed. "Harry, if I thought that, I wouldn't be warning you about this. It's not going to be like last year."

"So you're telling me not to be surprised if you suddenly do something nasty?"

"I'm telling you not to be surprised, or hurt, if I start acting completely atrocious toward you for a while."

Harry laughed, completely unfazed by this. "Draco, you _always_ act like that toward me in public. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I have better things to worry about than you."

Draco huffed and looked away with a sulky expression. "You know, I ought to just leave you, then maybe you'd appreciate me."

"C'mon, Draco, I do appreciate you," Harry said, finally looking serious. "And I'm glad you wanted to warn me before you start acting like a prat."

"Good, because you'd better take it seriously," Draco answered, looking stern again. "I'm going to do my best to make your life hell."

rsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrsrs

"Hey, Harry, you ready to leave yet?"

Harry glanced briefly up at Seamus before he nodded and stood up. They weren't the last ones left at the party, but they were close; only the twins and Lee had stuck around so long. Draco had left an hour before with Angelo and Kiran, and Blaise had gone with Aaron shortly after. Cedric had been gone for over twice that long.

Harry and Seamus stepped through the mirror and headed down the fourth floor corridor together in silence. It wasn't until they approached the stairs that Seamus spoke first.

"So...Slytherins..."

"Yeah."

Harry hadn't been sure how Seamus was going to take being in the same room with several Slytherins, but after everyone had been introduced, he got along rather well. He still seemed to hover around his fellow Gryffindors more than anyone else, but he'd definitely warmed up to Blaise, and he seemed to be rather enamoured with Kiran as well.

"So," Seamus started again, "How long have you and Malfoy been friends?"

"Over a year," Harry answered, feeling slightly awkward in spite of himself. "I wrote him over the summer last year as something to do, and he turned out to be really nice. What about you and Blaise?"

This made Seamus look faintly uncomfortable as he answered, "Ah, funny story, actually. About a month ago, Fred and George started asking me all sorts of odd questions about people I fancy and whether I've been seeing anyone–"

Harry rolled his eyes; he would have tried to be a bit more subtle about that, at least.

"–and then they mentioned that they knew someone in another House who fancied me." Seamus's cheeks turned slightly pink at this. "Obviously, I wanted to know who it was, but they wouldn't tell me. Said I wouldn't like it and it would just cause problems to tell me. They said they'd arrange for us to meet sometime, and that was the last they said about it.

"Then we got that project from Snape, the antidotes one. I was in the library researching and Blaise just came and sat next to me." He said this with a bit of a bewildered look, as though he were still unsure of why that had happened. "He said he'd noticed I'd been looking in the wrong books and handed me one that he said would be more useful. Then he left, just like that.

"That book...it was exactly what I was looking for. I don't know how he knew that, but it was dead useful. And it led me to other books that were just as helpful. So I started looking for him at breaks and lunch so I could thank him. I mean, he's always been pretty quiet and never caused problems like Malfoy, so I thought I could at least do that much. When I did find him, we ended up talking the whole time and I didn't get a chance. We did that the next time I went to thank him, and the next."

Seamus laughed as he added, "I still haven't thanked him yet."

"So was that what you were doing when I sent him that note this morning?" Harry asked curiously, smiling to himself.

"Yeah. To tell you the truth, I thought he was taking the mickey out of me at first, until he showed me the note and I saw it was your handwriting. He explained everything to me on the way to the meeting, and really, I only believed him because of that note. You've done a good job hiding all this."

"Really?" Harry asked, slightly surprised. "Hermione doesn't think so, and Ron's been getting suspicious."

"Hermione knows?"

"Well, no, but she knows something's been going on with me. I don't think she suspects _this_–" he gestured vaguely at nothing– "but she's definitely suspicious."

Seamus shrugged slightly. "Yeah, well, Hermione's something else. And Ron's your best mate, so that's not surprising. But the rest of us had no clue."

"That's good," Harry said in relief.

"Anyway, about this whole SG thing..." Seamus stopped just before the doors into the Great Hall and held out his hand to Harry. "I got your back. I won't be telling anyone about any of this."

Harry took his hand with a slight grin. "Likewise. Thanks Seamus."

"No problem."


	8. Part II Ch VII The Other Yule Ball

Author's notes!

I'm trying to imitate JKR's writing style with this, and that includes giving subtle hints and using one thing to teach about another. There're some pretty subtle hints, too! And I can think of at least one or two "teaching" things I've already stuck in. But don't be discouraged!

On another site, I've had a couple guesses as to what Angelo and Kiran are. Angelo's been pretty close, though Kiran was off (by a lot). I think with this chapter, y'all will have enough clues to guess what Angelo is, but Kiran's going to take way more hints, I think.

Also, I've had a couple guesses regarding Cedric on that site as well. Keep watching him! He's going to be surprising!

The SGC is the Serpent Guard Common room, btw, to anyone who was wondering.

* * *

Background Secrets

Part II: Fourth Year

Chapter VII: The Other Yule Ball

"Hey, Hagrid!" Harry greeted as he stopped by the hut one Tuesday evening to take care of their assignment to observe the skrewts. Hagrid looked up with a grin from his frozen garden.

"Evenin' Harry! How're you doin'?"

"Pretty well." That was an outright lie, seeing as he felt horrible about almost everything, but that would only worry Hagrid.

"Tha's great. Hermione an' Ron didn' come down with yeh?"

Harry felt a sharp pang at Ron's name and hurriedly shook his head. "No, Hermione had Arithmancy homework and Ron...didn't want to come with me today."

"Ah, well, he's bin down here enough anyway." Hagrid shrugged and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "The skrewts're out back. Yeh can leave when you like."

"Thanks Hagrid." Harry tried his best to look enthusiastic as he headed around to the back, but this was extremely difficult to keep up when a skrewt nearly ran him over as he turned the corner. He was not looking forward to watching the skrewts for any amount of time, but the excuse had gotten him out of the noisy common room and out into the much quieter outdoors.

He'd been sitting on Hagrid's back steps for no more than ten minutes when he heard Hagrid gruffly greet someone else.

"Oh, yeh came, did yeh?"

"Unfortunately, I can't afford to fail any classes," answered a drawling voice, "even this one."

Harry's heart skipped a beat and his head whipped around. What was Malfoy doing here?

"Hn. Well, the skrewts're out back. Yeh can leave after an hour, Malfoy."

Malfoy gave no response but Harry could hear him start walking again and panicked slightly. If Malfoy wasn't alone, he could be in serious trouble. Of course, if Malfoy _was_ alone, he could still be in trouble, since Hagrid was around. Harry felt that he preferred the former choice; he could beat Malfoy and his cronies in a duel any day.

No such luck. Malfoy stepped around the corner completely alone and froze to stare at Harry in shock. This was short-lasting, however, as a moment later, he snapped out of it and moved forward again with narrowed eyes.

"Potter," he growled out in greeting.

"Malfoy," Harry answered just as scathingly. He scooted over to the edge of the steps so Malfoy could sit on the other edge.

"Where are the Mudblood and Weasel?" Malfoy asked as he pulled out parchment and a fancy quill. "Did something happen to split up the dream team?"

"None of your business," Harry retorted, sounding a bit more vicious than he'd intended. Malfoy's remark had hit a little too close to home. "What about your 'friends'? I thought you were too scared to leave your dorm without them."

"_That_ is none of _your_ business," Malfoy snarled back, though the effect was somewhat muted by the fact that he was looking faintly abashed.

Harry didn't answer, instead looking back at the skrewts.

"How'd your photo shoot go?" Malfoy asked bitterly, obviously trying to keep up the act.

"Fine," Harry answered coldly, "as I'm sure you read in the _Prophet_."

Draco sighed and ran his fingers though his hair, though this hardly messed up his pale locks at all. "Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that–"

"It's fine," Harry interrupted, relaxing a bit. "I overreacted. I'm just really tense right now."

"And I know that. I'm really sorry–"

"Forget it," Harry said firmly. They were silent for another moment before Harry added softly, "I'm sorry I tried to hex you on Friday."

Draco laughed, shaking his head. "Don't be, I deserved it. But I did warn you that I was going to up it to another level this year."

"I know. Good thing, too. You're actually going to get some real reactions for it this year."

"So I noticed." The silence that followed this time was much more comfortable and lasted for several minutes.

"So, where _are_ Crabbe and Goyle?" Harry asked softly, highly aware that the sounds Hagrid had been making had stopped.

"Doing a detention with McGonagall," Draco answered with a roll of his eyes. "What about Granger?"

"Doing Arithmancy homework," Harry answered.

Draco seemed rather surprised by this. "Really? I finished mine an hour ago."

Harry shrugged. "That's what she said she was doing."

"Do you have the map with you?"

"Draco, she's probably in the library," Harry sighed, though he still pulled the map out of his pocket and handed it over to Draco. He didn't bother to watch as Draco searched the map, taking a couple notes on the skrewts instead.

"Good, you're right," Draco said after a moment. "It was just surprising. She's usually done before I am."

"How would you know that?" Harry asked in surprise. For hating each other, Draco and Hermione seemed to know a good deal about each other.

"She's been in the library a lot this year, and most of the time it hasn't been homework related." He shrugged slightly as he added, "I heard her muttering something about house-elves, so I've been sneaking peaks at what she's been reading. I don't want her to ruin our way of life," he explained at Harry aghast look.

"She's not going to ruin your way of life, Draco; she's not going to accomplish anything with this."

"Look, even I'll admit that Granger's intelligent; she very well could. Ah, now that could be a problem..."

"What?" Harry insisted, for Draco had suddenly paled and was staring down at the Marauder's Map with horror and annoyance.

"Weasley's coming down here," Draco muttered. "And he didn't encounter Granger, so I would bet he doesn't know you're down here."

"Damn." Harry sighed and started packing up his papers. "I don't want to be near him right now. That's why I came down here. Thanks," he added as Draco handed the map back to him.

"I think I'll head up with you," Draco said after a moment as he started packing up as well.

"Okay, catch up with me, though. It'll look weird if we leave together."

"Okay."

Harry gave him a small wave and headed back around to the front of the hut.

"Yeah, that's right Potter, walk away! Not like you could cast a halfway decent curse anyway!"

Harry quickly stifled laugh as Malfoy's voice drifted toward him and settled for rolling his eyes instead.

"Are yeh goin' back now, Harry?" Hagrid asked from where he was sitting next to his front steps, whittling at a strip of wood.

"Yeah, I have a couple other things I need to do, sorry."

"Nah, go on. Hope Malfoy didn' give yeh a hard time."

"Nope, we really just ignored each other, until a few moments ago. See ya, Hagrid!"

He was about halfway to the castle when Draco caught up to him, panting slightly.

"When is he going to get here?" Draco asked after a moment, glancing down at the map in Harry's hands.

"Pretty soon." The Ron dot was just heading down the stairs between the second and first floors.

"Hmm." Draco briefly glanced back at Hagrid's hut before he pulled Harry into a fierce kiss. Harry was still dazed when he pulled away.

"You'd better be careful next week," Draco growled softly; his eyes glimmered with a fierce protective fire. "I won't forgive you if you die."

"I will, Draco," Harry murmured, smiling faintly. "I promise; I'll be okay."

* * *

Harry wasn't assaulted as soon as he stepped through the mirror on Saturday, but it was close. He only had enough time to see that he and Draco were the only ones there before Draco attached to him and kissed him possessively. This time, though, he didn't protest or just react passively; he kissed back with just as much passion. He'd missed Draco quite a lot, especially while he was facing that dragon. 

"_Dragons_," Draco murmured as he finally pulled away. "And a Horntail at that. Merlin, Harry, you really attract the worst luck, don't you?"

"Sure seems that way sometimes, doesn't it?" Harry said with a laugh. "C'mon, let's sit down. I have to catch you up on a few things."

"Okay. I brought food for us." Draco gestured at the table as they sat down.

"You always get way too much food."

"I do not! You're just too skinny...and you eat like a pig, anyway!"

Harry just gave him an exasperated look before he started, "All right, so on Saturday night, Hagrid took me to see the dragons so I would know what I was facing–"

"Remind me to thank him later."

"–and Maxime and Karkaroff were there, too, so Fleur and Krum knew a head of time. Then when I got back to the castle, Sirius–"

"Oh, I already know about that."

Harry blinked in surprise. "How?"

"Because Sirius firecalled me right after you."

"What? Why?"

Draco rolled his eyes slightly. "Because we've been writing each other since June and he trusts me. He was really worried about you, especially when he had to leave before he could tell you his idea for fighting the dragons. I was supposed to tell you, but you were never alone after that."

"Well, no, 'cause Hermione was helping me find something," Harry answered sheepishly, feeling slightly guilty for some reason. "And then after I told Cedric about the dragons, Moody gave me the idea of a Summoning Charm and I had to practice it."

"You told Diggory about the dragons?"

"Of course. Then we'd all know ahead of time."

Draco let out an annoyed sigh and covered his face with a hand. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe your chances would be better if at least one of the other Champions didn't know? I swear, Harry, that stupid Gryffindor nobility of yours is going to get you killed someday."

Harry narrowed his eyes slightly. "Look, I know you don't like Cedric, but I do, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something had happened to him because I hadn't given him any help when I had the chance."

Draco scowled for a moment, but soon relented and waved it off. "Fine. You said Moody helped you?"

"Yeah, it was right after I talked to Cedric. I thought I was going to get in trouble, actually. But he just hinted that I was going to need my broom, and I came up with the Summoning Charm on my own." Harry gained a slightly wistful expression as he added, "I loved being in the air again, even if it was because of a dragon."

"You were brilliant, you really were. I wish I could fly like that."

Harry frowned slightly. "What are you talking about? You're an amazing flier."

Draco shook his head with a faint smile. "Not as good as you. You've got such natural talent; mine's just from a lot of practice. You should have gotten more points. Karkaroff's just biased."

Harry shrugged. "I don't really care how many points I got. I'm not in this to win; I just want to survive." Then he gave Draco a questioning look. "You said in your note that you had something you wanted to tell me. I'm guessing it wasn't that I was brilliant on Tuesday."

"No, it wasn't." Draco suddenly became rather serious as he continued, "While I was watching you on Tuesday, I decided two things. Well, really, I decided I was really going to do them; I've been thinking about them for a while. The first is that I'm going to become an Animagus."

Harry blinked slightly. "That's rather...sudden. What made you decide that?"

"I want to be able to help you when you get into trouble, like with that dragon, but obviously I can't do anything like this–" he gestured at himself– "so I need another way to do it. Being an Animagus would be that way."

"You'd become an Animagus...to help me?"

Draco's eyes narrowed at him. "I'm being serious and you're laughing at me!"

"Draco, I'm not laughing at you!" Harry protested quickly. "I'm trying to understand. I think it's great that you want to be an Animagus."

"What's to understand?" Draco asked reproachfully. "I want to protect you, so I'm going to be an Animagus."

"I know, but I'm not used to people going to such lengths to do something for me." Harry blushed slightly as that and added before Draco could say anything else, "What was the other thing?"

Draco suddenly gained a light blush of his own and looked down his feet as he answered, "I want to be a Healer too, like Madam Pomfrey."

"Really? That's great!"

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I think you'd be great at helping people. You've got the Potions talent down, anyway," Harry answered earnestly. "But what would your father think about that?"

"My father?" Draco laughed bitterly. "My father would disown me the moment he got wind that I wanted to do anything to help people. He'd kill me if he knew it was because of you. Who cares about my father? He hasn't really been important to me for a year now."

Harry stared at him in shock. "Since when? You love your father."

"Of course I do, but he's not important to me now. You've been more important to me since Sirius broke in and slashed up your Fat Lady and we thought he was targeting you."

"Oh." For some reason, Harry was rather touched that he was more important to Draco than his father, whom Draco had always seemed to idolize. Then he smiled faintly and added, "You know, Sirius is an Animagus. Are you going to ask him for help?"

"Yeah, I've already written him to ask about it."

Harry shook his head slightly. "It so weird to know you've been writing him. It's like my dad being best friends with a guy I'm dating or something."

Draco suddenly blushed and became very interested in arranging the food.

"Do you want to eat now?" he asked quickly, bringing out a couple of plates. "We can work on homework after if you want, like we used to do."

"Wait, what did I say?" Harry asked, slightly concerned by the blond's behaviour.

"Nothing, I'm just hungry."

Harry sighed and accepted the plate Draco was holding out to him; he knew there was no way he would get Draco to say anything if the blond didn't want to.

* * *

_Draco I need to see you. Tonight._

**Oh? Where, in the SGC or one of our dorms?**

_Draco! I'm serious! Meet me at the kitchens. I'm assuming you know where they are._

**The kitchens? Why?**

_Yes, I need to show you something. Go up now._

**Now?**

_Yes, now. I'll meet you there._

**All right, but this had better not be a waste of time.**

Harry signed off and hid the IM scroll in the bottom of his trunk in its usual spot. Then he hurriedly left with the excuse that he was visiting Dobby, which was a tad true, and raced down to the kitchens, hoping that he could get there before Draco, however unlikely that might be.

When he got there, he wasn't surprised to see that Draco was already waiting for him, since the dungeons were a lot closer to the kitchens than Gryffindor Tower. However, he was surprised to see that Draco wasn't alone; he was engaged in a stare down with none other than Cedric Diggory. What was really amazing was that the look on Cedric's face held just as much dislike as Draco's. Harry could only imagine why; Cedric seemed to like everyone, and he tried especially hard to be friends with Draco.

"Am I interrupting something?" Harry asked after a moment. Both other boys glanced at him with startled expressions.

"No," Cedric answered with a small smile.

"Yes," Draco said at the same time, giving Cedric a fierce glare.

"Um, maybe we should do this some other time, Draco," Harry suggested softly, glancing between them.

"No, we're done here," Cedric said with a shake of his head. He gave Harry another smile and added, "I'll talk to you later, okay? I owe you for telling me about the dragons."

"Okay," Harry answered with a smile of his own. Cedric waved at him as he headed further down the corridor and disappeared as he turned a corner.

Draco scowled at Cedric's back before turning to Harry with a smile. "So, why are we meeting here?"

Harry, however, was frowning at him. "What is your problem with Cedric?"

"I don't have a problem with Cedric," Draco answered, pointedly using the Hufflepuff's first name. Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Fine, whatever. Anyway, we're here because I wanted you to meet someone."

Draco's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at that. "Oh? Who?"

Harry gave him a reassuring smile, though he was trying hard not to laugh. It was rather funny to think that Draco was getting jealous of his old house-elf. "Don't worry, you sort of already know him, but I thought you might want to know he's here."

Draco frowned in confusion, still looking mildly jealous, but he stayed silent as Harry stepped forward and tickled the pear in the painting behind him. As soon as it turned into a handle, he pulled it open and gestured Draco forward. Then there was a delighted squeal from inside and something small and multicoloured came flying at Harry and nearly knocked him off his feet.

"Harry Potter, sir!" squealed the thing, which Draco now realized was a ghastly dressed house-elf. "You is coming to see Dobby two days in a row!"

"Yeah," Harry said with a laugh. "And I brought a friend, I hope you don't mind."

Before Dobby could answer, however, a choked whisper came from Draco's direction. "Dobby...?"

Dobby's large green eyes widened even more and he jumped away from Harry to stare fearfully at Draco. "M-master Draco, sir!"

Harry glanced between them and gently pushed Dobby back into the kitchens. "I thought so. C'mon, Draco."

Draco followed in stunned silence as Harry led them back to the fire. Thankfully, Winky was off somewhere else today.

"Sit," Harry ordered and Draco sat on the hearth without protest, staring at Dobby with a dazed expression. The elf remained standing, wringing his hands as he stared back at Draco.

"Dobby, could we have some tea?" Harry asked softly. Dobby jumped and gave him a shaky smile before he dashed off to help get what Harry had asked for. Harry turned a worried gaze on Draco. "Are you okay? I didn't realize he'd affect you so much."

"I'm here to see my old house-elf?" Draco muttered hoarsely, still staring at the spot where Dobby had been.

"Mm-hmm. I thought it would be good for both of you. Maybe I was wrong..."

"How did he end up here?" Draco asked weakly.

"Dumbledore let him work here as a free elf with paying," Harry answered, still looking worried. "If you ask, I'm sure he'll tell you everything."

Draco let out a soft laughed. "His clothes are horrid."

Harry snickered softly, nodding in agreement.

A large tray with tea, milk, and a pile of small cakes appeared in front of them, carried by six elves. Draco glanced at it for a moment, then at the elves.

"Thank you," he murmured softly. Five of the elves looked delighted by this and bowed low before the returned to their previous tasks. Dobby stayed behind and started pouring the tea, looking distinctly unhappy.

"Thanks," Harry said as soon as Dobby handed him his tea, though he immediately pushed in into Draco's hands instead with the order to drink. His new cup remained untouched where Dobby had set it as he looked between them, but before he could say anything, Dobby spoke up hesitantly.

"Is Master Draco a friend of Harry Potter?"

"Yes," Harry and Draco answered at once, though Draco's sounded slightly indignant.

"But...Master Draco is a...a _bad Dark wizard_!" Dobby said in a conspiratorial whisper. Then he looked horrified at what he'd said and dashed over to the fireplace to bang his head against the bricks. "_Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!_"

Harry moved to stop him, but Draco got there first. He grabbed Dobby by his tie and jerked him away from the brick.

"Stop that," he ordered. "You can say what you like about me. I don't own you anymore."

"Thank you, Master Draco, sir," Dobby muttered, rubbing at his head.

"And just so you know, I'm not a 'bad Dark wizard.' That's my father, and I've no intention of becoming like him." Draco turned back to Harry with an annoyed expression. "Why are we here?"

"Because from the way you wrote about him, you obviously liked Dobby," Harry answered, pointedly making sure the elf could hear him say it. "So I thought that maybe you could try being friends now that you're not his owner any more."

Draco stared at him as though he'd suddenly sprouted a second head. "Have you lost your mind?" he hissed softly. "Why would I be friends with a house-elf?"

"Master Draco liked Dobby?"

Draco looked down at the elf, startled; Dobby's demeanour had completely changed and his green eyes were shining with hope as he looked up at Draco. Harry elbowed the blond with a pointed look.

"Um, yeah, I did," Draco answered hesitantly. "Of course I did, and I trusted you a lot more than the other house-elves."

"Master Draco was always much more kind to Dobby! And Dobby has always kept his silence of Master Draco's secrets!" Dobby chirped happily, his eyes filling with tears. "But Dobby never knew how great the young master is, how important Dobby was to Master Draco!"

Draco's cheeks had turned a faint pink as he stared at the gushing elf.

"It's kind of cute that you're so embarrassed," Harry teased with a laugh as he pressed a kiss to one of those pink cheeks.

That just made Draco blush further. "I'm not 'cute'!"

"I never said that," Harry answered innocently, though he was grinning as well.

"But it's what you meant," Draco retorted. Harry shrugged with the grin still on his face and turned back to Dobby, feeling slightly guilty that they hadn't been paying him any attention. Surprisingly, Dobby didn't look at all amazed buy their exchange; rather, he looked ecstatic.

"Master Draco must be happy!" Dobby exclaimed cheerfully. "Master Draco has gotten what he always wanted!"

"Um, yeah," Draco muttered, looking even more embarrassed. "So, anyway, what have you been doing for the last two years?

Harry smiled as Dobby launched into an enthusiastic recount of the last two years. He'd known this was a good idea.

* * *

_To SG member Harry Potter:_

_Meet at the SGC at lunch. We're going to discuss much and party even more._

_Fred & George_

Harry nodded to the twins over his breakfast as he stuffed the note into his pocket. He'd be glad to get away from everything for a couple hours.

When lunchtime came, he headed to the fourth floor and the SGC. He was only the second person there; already sitting in a chair near the fire, looking completely lost in thought, was Angelo.

Immediately, Harry felt apprehensive, vividly remembering the last time he'd been alone with the older boy. He was tempted to follow Blaise's advice and wait outside until someone else showed up. However, Angelo hadn't looked up when he'd entered, nor when he'd stepped further into the room, and usually, Angelo was the first person to acknowledge someone new in a room, even before Aaron.

Furthermore, Angelo was still wearing his school robes, which Harry knew after several meetings he didn't like to wear. He had several sets of form-fitting, extremely scanty Muggle clothes that he preferred instead. In fact, other than at the first SG meeting of the year, Harry couldn't remember ever seeing Angelo wear his robes on the weekend. Besides that, the robes had a rather slept-in appearance, and his hair looked as though it hadn't been combed in a couple days. Harry could only guess that Angelo hadn't been back to his dorm in at least a day and had slept here instead.

The other boy proved to be so deep in thought that he only looked up when Harry stepped in front of him and waved a hand in front of his face. Then he looked up with a startled expression, staring at Harry for a moment before giving him a breathtaking smile.

"Hello, Harry."

"Hi," Harry answered, suddenly feeling uncomfortable again with those deep eyes trained on his face. He went over and sat in his usual spot before speaking again, "What's up?"

"I am afraid I do not know what you mean."

Harry looked at him sceptically, but he wasn't going to push Angelo to talk if he didn't want to. He stated instead, "You're here early."

"As are you," Angelo pointed out with a faint smirk.

"I didn't want to deal with the rest of the school anymore," Harry said with a slight face. "I can't believe how many girls there really are."

Angelo laughed softly. "Yes, I would expect quite a few have asked you already."

"Only three so far," Harry said with another face, "two this morning and one yesterday. But there's really only one person I want to go with...what about you and Kiran?"

"Oh, we have had our share of requests," Angelo answered with another laugh. "I think we are going to go with two Slytherin girls as a group."

Harry blinked in surprise. "You're not going with each other?"

A dark look briefly crossed Angelo's face as he shook his head. "No, though the Headmaster has made it clear that he would prefer it. But as I have no interest in either girl, and they know it, there should be no problems."

"Why–"

"Angelo!"

They both turned and stared at Draco, who had just stepped through the mirror. He seemed a bit annoyed and harassed as he walked over to sit next to Harry, who suddenly felt a little guilty. Draco didn't seem to notice, though, as he was looking at Angelo.

"Kiran asked me to tell you that you're allowed back in the dorm and that he's not going to try to kill you."

Angelo scowled and looked away. "If that were truly the case, he would tell me that himself."

Harry looked between them, utterly bewildered. "Why would Kiran want to kill you? And why did he kick you out of your dorm?"

"He did not; our roommates did," Angelo answered. He suddenly gained a rather pained look as he added softly, "It is out destiny for one of us to kill the other. That is why we were born. But it is a cruel joke that we have been dating for years, and he _knew_."

Harry was about to ask what in the world Angelo meant by all that, but at that moment the twins and Lee came in singing loudly and he didn't have the chance. He wasn't about to let it drop, though; he wanted to know what was going on.

Soon, everyone had shown up and had a plate of food, except for Angelo, who had several bottles of some red drink instead (Harry had never seen him actually eat, even at meals in the Great Hall). He and Kiran were sitting on opposite sides of the room, the blond looking distinctly unhappy about this as he kept giving Angelo longing glances. Harry was just about to ask Angelo what was going on again, but the twins chose that moment to stand to get everyone's attention.

"All right, so, George and I," Fred began, sounding almost business-like, "called you all here because we've got something important to discuss. Namely, the Yule Ball."

"That's the only thing _anyone_'s thinking about right now," Draco muttered so only Harry could hear him. Harry quickly had to stifle a laugh.

"We figured that none of us are going to go with our real dates," George continued, "except Cedric, of course."

"Now, that didn't seem very fair to us, since everyone else gets to go with whoever they like, while we have to scrabble for fake dates to satisfy the populace."

"Is this going anywhere?" Kiran asked, plainly looking annoyed.

"We were thinking," George said, giving Kiran a slightly glare, "that we should have our own Yule Ball, just for SG members."

Harry was surprised by this, as were several of the others, but Draco immediately nodded and said enthusiastically, "That's a great idea!"

Harry wasn't sure he agreed with the statement, but he did feel that it would be nice to have another opportunity to dance with Draco again, as he certainly wouldn't at the real Yule Ball. He found himself nodding with the others.

"Great. George, Lee, and I can organize it," Fred said with a grin, "but we're all going to have to decide on a day."

"How about the 22nd?" Draco suggested.

"I think it would be better to have it after Christmas," Kiran said with a pointed glance at Angelo. Harry frowned in confusion, but understanding dawned on Draco's face.

"Right, yes, maybe after Christmas would be better."

"What about New Year's?" Cedric suggested. "Then it's still a holiday thing."

Draco nodded in approval after a moment. "That works too."

Kiran was frowning slightly still, but he soon dipped his head in agreement as well.

"So, New Year's, then?" George asked. Everyone nodded in agreement, though Angelo was glaring at Kiran again. "All right, then. The other thing we thought of needing suggestions for is what we're going to do about presents."

"We should exchange them at the ball," Blaise said immediately. "I don't want anything from Gryffindors in my presents on Christmas."

"Yes, that would cause some rather awkward questions," Angelo agreed.

"Well, we should have our own tree, right?" Harry said softly. "Why don't we put all the presents under the tree before the ball and then we can open them during the ball."

Draco glanced at him curiously, mimicking the look on most of the others' faces. "Why would you put presents under a tree?"

"Muggles have the tradition of putting presents under the tree," Harry explained. "Even the Dursleys did that, although they never gave me more than one present."

"Weird, wizards don't do that."

"I've noticed. I always thought the tree looked better with presents under it, though." Harry shrugged, feeling slightly embarrassed. "It's just an idea."

"I like that idea," Cedric said after a moment, nodding with a smile.

"Me, too," Draco said immediately afterward.

Harry smiled at this and when the rest of them eventually nodded in agreement. And the more they discussed the Yule Ball, the more Harry got excited for it. The real one probably wouldn't be much fun, but theirs was certainly going to be.

* * *

And so the preparations for the SG Yule Ball were underway. No matter what the twins said about getting the whole thing ready themselves, the rest of them were all roped into helping at least once. Harry and Blaise ended up helping on the same day and spent a pleasant couple of hours affixing everlasting icicles to the ceiling while chatting about various things. 

On the first Tuesday of break, Thiassi swooped into Gryffindor Tower while Harry was still in bed. As he was awake, the owl startled him a great deal, but he quickly sat up and held an arm out for the bird.

"Good morning, Thiassi," he said as he untied the letter from the owl's leg. Thiassi hooted softly and hopped off Harry's arm to wait on his nightstand. Harry shook his head in amusement. "He wants a response right now, does he?"

Thiassi hooted in affirmation and began preening himself. Harry smiled faintly, then frowned as he turned the envelope over and saw that it was his real name that was written on it. Draco didn't do that unless it was extremely important.

"Who's that from, Harry?" asked someone from the doorway. Harry looked up to see Seamus standing there; as all his roommates had already left, Seamus had probably been sent up to see if Harry wanted any breakfast.

"Draco," Harry answered without hesitation. Seamus and Draco had ended up decorating together the previous day, and the Irishman had come back playfully moaning about how jealous he was that Draco was interesting in Harry and not him. It seemed they had gotten along rather well.

"Oooh, what's it about?" Seamus headed over and eagerly climbed up onto the bed next to Harry to see.

Harry shrugged as he slit open the envelope. Then he gasped as he pulled out the card. It was incredible. The image was of a snow-blown landscape with a single frosted evergreen tree and a lone figure whose cloak was flapping in the wind. The figure was facing away toward a line of snowy mountains in the distance and had blond hair whipping about his head; Harry strongly suspected this was supposed to be Draco.

"Wow..." Seamus murmured next to him. Harry just nodded silently and opened the card.

The landscape continued on the inside. On the right side was a forest of trees covered in snow, which thinned to only a few on the left, and a few lines of shining silver writing. On the left side among the few trees was another figure, one with messy black hair and piercing green eyes, who was walking away from the forest toward the edge of the card. When he disappeared at the edge, Harry closed the card again; now both figures were there, embracing each other, then sharing a passionate kiss. Harry felt his cheeks heat up as he watched.

"Read what the inside says, Harry, go on!" Seamus urged as the figures pulled apart. Harry started slightly–he'd quite forgotten Seamus was there–but obeyed and opened the card again to read the silver writing.

_The shadows on the purest snow are blue,_

_The ocean as it shines through the ice,_

_And all the world halts for one short moment,_

_To let an angel share a kiss_

_With the earth's mortal angel child_

_My angel, will you share a kiss with me at the ball?_

_Your earthly mortal,_

_Draco_

Harry felt as through his face was going to catch on fire and his heart was going to stop from how quickly it was pounding in his chest. How had Draco been able to write all that with such a steady hand?

Beside him, Seamus whistled softly. "Men, that's really sappy. He must really like you. I can't imagine Draco Malfoy writing something like that unless he really meant it."

"Me neither," Harry murmured, utterly awed. Then as he glanced at Thiassi, his heart fell slightly. There was no way he could even think of something that nice, much less write an adequate reply to Draco. Feeling incredibly self-conscious, Harry reached under his bed for a quill and parchment, then wrote a quick reply and sent it off with Thiassi.

Now, however, he realized he had another problem. He hadn't yet gotten a present for Draco, nor was he sure what to get the blond, though he had a couple ideas. Now it seemed he would have to get something pretty good to match this card as well as whatever his real presents would be.

But that could wait until after Christmas.

"Anyway, I came up here to see if you wanted any breakfast," Seamus said as he slid off the bed and headed for the door. "You coming?"

"Oh, yeah..." Harry watched the card for another moment, then slid it under his pillow and hurried after Seamus.

* * *

At about six-o'clock on New Year's, Harry and Seamus silently crept out of Gryffindor Tower under the Invisibility Cloak, both of them feeling rather self-conscious. As they had all decided that the dress-code for the SG Yule Ball should be Muggle clothing rather than dress robes, Harry had donned the outfit Draco had bought him the previous year that miraculously still fit. Seamus had managed to find dressy clothes of his own, tan slacks and a button-down navy shirt, though he seemed a little uncomfortable in them. Their presents were already under the tree Lee had dragged in for them, so all they had to worry about was keeping the cloak on and avoiding any other students. 

Music was already playing as they stepped into the lavishly decorated SGC. It almost looked better than the Great Hall. Fred and George had done something to make the icicles glow with a bluish light, illuminating the magical snow falling down from the ceiling. They'd also managed to capture several hundred fairies, which were now flitting about the ceiling and the Christmas tree in the corner, which was as fancy as those in the Great Hall. Along one whole wall was a giant buffet with about three times as much food as they usually had. The furniture had been pushed back against the other three walls and was now light blue with silver snowflakes. All over the walls hung lengths of ivy and garlands of silver and gold, and hidden in various places among the icicles were bunches of mistletoe.

As soon as the two Gryffindors had pulled the cloak off, there was a delighted squeal and something small collided with Harry, nearly knocking him off his feet. Harry stared down at the elf in amazement.

"Dobby?"

"It is, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby squealed happily as he let go.

"W-what are you doing here?"

"Dobby is helping out with your ball, Harry Potter!" Dobby chirped, grabbing one of Harry's hands to pull him forward into the room. "Master Draco is coming to ask Dobby if he would like to help, and Dobby is liking to very much, so Dobby is helping!"

"That's great!" Harry said, grinning down at him. "So, you and Draco are getting along all right now?"

"Oh yes, Harry Potter! Master Draco has visited Dobby twice since you brought him, and he is always being kind to Dobby. Dobby likes Master Draco very much, sir!"

"Could I have my date back, then, Dobby?" asked a drawling voice from behind them. Harry turned with an amused expression, but Dobby spoke before he could.

"Oh yes, Master Draco, sir! Have fun!" Harry blinked owlishly at the elf as he hurried away.

"I don't think I ever realized how much I actually missed that elf," Draco murmured, actually smiling.

"Mmm." Harry turned back to him with a faint smirk. "So, when did I become your 'date'?"

Draco blinked in surprise and almost looked hurt. "When you replied to my card. Don't you remember?"

"Of course I do," Harry answered, immediately sorry; he hadn't wanted to upset Draco. He gave Draco a warm smile as he added, "That card is amazing. I love it."

"He sleeps with it under his pillow," Seamus whispered with a grin behind Draco; he'd followed Harry and Dobby since Blaise wasn't there yet. "And he sits for hours watching it..."

"Get out of here, you prat!" Harry exclaimed, his face bright red. Seamus just grinned again and hurriedly left to wait for Blaise by the mirror.

Draco was staring at Harry with an expression he'd never seen before. "Do you really?"

"Um, yeah..." Harry murmured, his blush darkening. And he really did; the card was so amazing that he would sit for ages just watching it. He'd found out that not only did the figures have their own personalities like portraits, the weather and time of day changed as well, so it really was like watching something real. "It's an incredible card."

"I'm glad you like it. I made it for you."

"You _made_ it?"

"Yeah, and it took me ages to figure out how to do it."

Harry stared at him in awe. "Maybe I shouldn't keep it under my pillow, then. I don't want it to get ruined."

"No, I think you should keep it there," Draco answered with a smile. Then that smile turned into a smirk and he held a hand out to Harry. "Come on, I don't want to spend all night talking. We're here to dance, and that's how I intend to spend every minute of it."

Harry laughed and took Draco's hand with a nod.

Dancing with Draco now was very different from last year in Knockturn Alley. Then, they had hardly touched, except for when Harry had start getting sleepy and Draco had been forced to hold him up. This time, however, Draco pulled him close immediately and led him in a slow dance first. It was much better than dancing with Parvati, and he felt far more comfortable in Draco's arms than hers. He was still a bit uncomfortable, since even when they were kissing then weren't this close together, and they were never even that close for long. Here, they were close for quite a while, and Harry slowly relaxed into it. It wasn't like Draco was going to hit him or anything.

The next song was slow as well and Draco barely paused between them to switch dances. Harry struggled to keep up with the switch, but he soon figured it out and relaxed again, only once throwing Draco a glare when the blond snickered at his clumsy efforts. Otherwise, it was quite pleasant being with Draco like this, and he couldn't think of anywhere else he'd rather like to be at the moment.

This song ended far too quickly for Harry's tastes to be replaced with a much more upbeat one. He suddenly felt awkward, because while he had danced to this type of music before, that had been over a year ago, and he felt a bit embarrassed to try again now.

Draco seemed to sense this and whispered softly in Harry's ear, "It's just like the last time, remember? Close your eyes and feel, don't think."

Harry nodded and did just that, and soon he was enjoying himself as much as the last time in Knockturn Alley.

After about an hour, Harry finally stopped with the complaint of being hungry and dragged Draco over to the buffet table to get a plate of food. Then he dragged the blond over to one of the sofa, ignoring his weak protests.

"We'll dance some more after I eat," Harry said firmly as he sat down and pulled Draco down with him. He started eating before Draco could argue any further.

Draco waited somewhat patiently for Harry to finish, though his foot was tapping incessantly to the music. As soon as Harry was done, Draco jumped up and tugged on Harry's hands to get him to stand too.

"Come on, I want to ask you something."

"You could have asked me here," Harry said with a laugh as he let Draco pull him up and drag him off back to the dance floor.

"No, I want to ask you while we're dancing," Draco answered. He stopped near where Angelo was dancing with Cedric, who was giving nervous glances at a very jealous looking Kiran every so often. Without a word, Draco pulled Harry close and began leading him again.

Harry was just about to ask what Draco had wanted to ask him when the blond spoke.

"So, is this better than being with that horrid Patil girl?"

"Infinitely better," Harry said with a laugh. "But–"

"Why'd you go with her and not Chang?"

"She was already going with Cedric. I think she may be the girlfriend he keeps mentioning."

"Hmm. That could be a problem."

"Not really. If I act jealous of him, it'll come to the same thing." He had thought about that quite a lot, after he had gotten over the disappointment that he'd gotten to her first.

Harry frowned at Draco, murmuring, "But that wasn't what you wanted to ask me."

"No, it wasn't." But Draco fell silent again after that for several more minutes, until Harry was about ready to prompt him again.

"Harry, last year when I kissed you that first time, you wanted to know why. You remember that, right?"

"How could I forget? But you told me why. You said–"

"I didn't tell you everything," Draco interrupted. "I was afraid that if I did, I would lose you. After all, we'd just become friends; we could have easily gone back to the way we were before. And then I was going to tell you at the end of last year, but that didn't seem like a good time either."

"But you're going to tell me now, right?" Harry asked, bristling slightly. He _hated_ when things were kept from him for his own good.

Draco nodded, looking more determined than ashamed. "Harry Potter, will you be my boyfriend?"

Harry's eyes widened, he himself completely taken aback. "W-what?"

"I really like you, Harry, more than a friend should," Draco explained, the determined look still in his silver eyes. "I think I always have, but I didn't realize it until you visited me in the hospital last year, and that's the other reason I kissed you. I didn't tell you until now because I wasn't sure how you felt."

Harry felt a distinctly bubbly, happy feeling at those words, though the reason why eluded him for the moment. Did he like Draco like that? His first reaction was no, but when he really thought about it, he knew that was a lie. He'd liked Draco as more than a friend since the end of last year, but he hadn't wanted to admit it to himself. It made perfect sense, though. It explained why he'd gotten jealous of Angelo and Kiran when he'd heard Draco had a crush on them, and why he'd been so affected when Draco had said he was more important than Lucius Malfoy.

"How do you know I feel the same way?" Harry asked softly to give himself extra thinking time.

"Harry, it's been pretty obvious to everyone else that you do, or I wouldn't have said anything."

Harry gave him a nervous smile as he nodded. "I think I like you too. For a while now, too, I just didn't realize it 'til now."

"So, will you?"

Harry frowned slightly; being boyfriends wasn't such a great idea, even with how they felt. "Draco..."

"Not in public," Draco said hurriedly, sensing the reason for Harry's unease. "But in private and with the SG, will you?"

Harry was silent for a moment as he thought about it and soon nodded with a hesitant smile. "I'd like that."

Draco gave him a breathtaking smile before kissing him soundly. "Thank you. And you know that problem you have with people touching you?"

"Um, no?"

"Well, we're going to work on that."

Harry sighed, getting the feeling that dealing with Draco wasn't going to become any easier even if they were dating.

It was at least another hour before they were interrupted. Another slow song had just started and they were doing their best to stay out of the twins' way, as Fred and George seemed determined to knock down anything that came close enough.

"May I have this dance, Harry?"

Harry looked up, startled, to see Cedric standing right next to him with his hand outstretched. He glanced at Draco, who was staring at Cedric with the utmost loathing.

"Do you mind?" he asked softly, completely missing the glare Cedric sent back at Draco.

"No, go on," Draco finally muttered with a heavy sigh. "But just one dance. You're _my_ date, remember?"

"Okay, just one." Harry pressed a brief kiss to Draco's cheek and let Cedric lead him off.

"He seems a bit possessive of you," Cedric observed softly. Harry laughed softly, shaking his head.

"Well, I _am_ his date. And," he added, sobering a little, "we're going out now, so he has every right to be possessive of me."

"You two are dating?"

"Yeah, he asked me just a little while ago." Harry laughed again as he continued, "I never thought I'd be dating Draco Malfoy, but I'm really glad he asked. I'd never have the guts to ask him myself."

"Oh, I see." Harry thought that for a moment, Cedric looked sad about this, but it was replaced by a smile so fast that he decided it must have been a trick of the light. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Harry gave him a bright smile as they stopped and Cedric pulled him close.

To Harry's surprise, dancing with Cedric wasn't that much different than dancing with Draco. Of course, Cedric was bigger, so that made quite a difference, and he didn't hold Harry nearly as close. But Harry felt just as comfortable in Cedric's arms as he had in Draco's, and he felt extremely guilt about that. He was sure he wouldn't feel like that with anyone else. Did that mean he liked Cedric, too? He couldn't; he liked Draco, and he was sure about that; Cedric was just a good friend. And Cedric didn't feel like that about him, he was certain.

"Hey, d'you want to go trade presents now?" Cedric asked when the song ended. "Your Slytherin shadow said just once dance, but not that we couldn't do something else. I was going to leave soon, anyway."

"Um, okay." Harry shrugged off the feeling of guilt and followed Cedric over to the Christmas tree. Cedric searched through the presents and handed one to Harry while he stood up with another in his hands.

"Let's go sit somewhere," Cedric suggested and he led Harry over to one of the couches.

"You open yours first," Harry said as he sat down next to the older boy. Cedric smiled faintly and nodded, his fingers neatly tearing into the paper and the box it covered.

"Oh wow, Harry," Cedric murmured as he stared at the contents of the box. Inside was a model of a Quidditch field, complete with minute players, like the one Harry had seen Oliver playing with the previous year.

"I saw it in Hogsmeade and though you would like it," Harry said as the small players flew a lap around the field. "'Cause you're a Captain and everything."

"I love it. Thanks." Cedric grinned as his eyes followed the players. "I was always jealous of Oliver 'cause he had one of these. Go on, open yours now."

"Okay." Harry eagerly tore into the gift, mostly because he hadn't expected anything from Cedric after the hint he'd been given the previous week after the real Yule Ball. He gasped softly as he opened the box; wandering about the bottom was an incredibly beautiful model of a dragon with shimmering pearly scales and bright iridescent eyes.

"It's an Antipodean Opaleye," Cedric explained as Harry gingerly picked up the dragon. "I know you're probably sick of dragons, but I thought that maybe this would mean more than something else."

"It's amazing; I love it. Thank you," Harry murmured, smiling as the dragon explored his hand curiously. Really, he didn't have a problem with dragons, as long as he didn't have to actively face one. His Hungarian Horntail was still on his nightstand.

"And I already know what I'm going to name him," Harry added, struck by sudden inspiration.

"Already?"

"Yeah, I'm good with names. I'm going to name him Rast."

"Rast? It's cute, and it fits him."

Harry nodded with a smile. What would Draco think about having a dragon named after him?

"There you are!"

Harry started and looking up to see Draco coming towards them looking slightly harassed.

"What are you talking about? We've been here for ages."

"I looked up when the song ended and you were gone. Then Lee cornered me for a while, but I've really been looking for you for ten minutes. Come on, I–what's that?" Draco suddenly asked as he spotted the tiny dragon. Harry grinned and held it out to him.

"It's what Cedric got me! Isn't he amazing? I named him Rast."

At first, Draco looked mildly annoyed and jealous, but that all changed when he heard the name. All of a sudden, he smiled and took the dragon to look at it more closely.

"Rast, huh?" Draco smirked at him as he gave the dragon back. "I like it."

"I thought you might," Harry answered with a return smile as he gently placed Rast back in his box. Then he turned back to Cedric. "When were you going to leave?"

"Oh, now, actually," Cedric answered. He looked mildly confused but was still smiling. "I just wanted to give you your present first."

"Oh, Okay. I'm really glad you came; I was afraid you might not."

Cedric shook his head with a soft laugh as he stood. "I wouldn't have missed it. Thanks again for the Quidditch model. Your team's going to lose bad next year. See you, Harry!"

"Don't count on it. Bye, Cedric!"

Cedric waved once as he left, giving one curt nod to Draco as well.

"So, presents, huh?" Draco said as soon as Cedric was gone, obviously trying to get Harry's attention back on himself. Harry nodded with a faint smile, exasperated and touched that Draco was so jealous of Cedric when he really had no reason to be.

"Would you like to do ours now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll go get them." Draco left to go find their presents while Harry watched his dragon curl up and fall asleep in the bottom of the box.

"Here," Draco said, handing him two gifts when he came back. He was holding two of his own. "Open yours first," he added as he sat down.

"But–"

"No," Draco said firmly. "Open the bigger one first."

Harry sighed and obeyed the instructions to open the larger present.

"Draco, I swear, this is the fifth book you've given me!" Harry exclaimed, trying to sound exasperated, though he was grinning and he immediately started looking through the Defence Against the Dark Arts book.

"Well, I was going to give it to you anyway; Christmas just gave me the opportunity to." Draco shrugged and pointed at the smaller box. "That's your real present."

Harry set the book aside next to where he'd set Rast on the sofa and eagerly opened the second box. Lying inside on a bed of purple velvet was a Snitch. A rather still Snitch. Harry looked over at Draco questioningly.

"It's a Practice Snitch," Draco explained. He picked up the Snitch to show Harry the two small dials on the back. "You can set it to be as easy or as hard to catch as you want and for the size of the area you're practicing in."

"Oh. Excellent." Harry eagerly took the Snitch back and started playing with the dials. A moment later, the Snitch flew out of his hands and off through the glowing icicles.

"I forgot to mention that," Draco said with a laugh at Harry's distraught expression. "As soon as you set both dials, it'll fly off. It only stops again once you've caught it."

"Good to know _after_ I've lost it." Harry sighed and shook his head. "It'll come back, I guess. You need to open your presents now! The smaller one first."

Draco smiled and opened the present, then laughed softly. "And here you were saying _I_'m the one obsessed with giving books. This is the third book the third book _you_'ve given _me_."

"Well, you seemed to like the sci-fi book a got you last year," Harry answered, embarrassed, as Draco opened the book to scan through it.

"Yeah, I did. Actually, it's what gave me the idea for my secret project."

"Really? So, are you going to tell me what it is now?"

"No, it's still a surprise."

Harry pouted slightly, disappointed, but quickly gestured at the other present. "Open that one now."

"It feels like more books," Draco said with a laugh as he started peeling off the paper. Harry smiled as the blond gasped at the first book.

"It _is_ more books," Harry answered softly. "One on Healing and one on Animagi. The book store owner said they were the best he had."

"Wow..." Draco briefly flipped through both books before he set all three aside and enveloped Harry in a tight hug. "Thank you so much, Harry!"

"You're welcome!" Harry laughed. "But you're killing me!"

"Oh! Sorry..." Draco let go immediately with a sheepish smile.

"It's okay. Do you want to go dance now?"

"Yes!" Draco instantly stood and tugged on Harry's hands. "Let's go! You owe me."

"All right, I'm coming!" Harry quickly set the Snitch box aside and followed Draco back onto the dance floor.

For another hour, they weren't interrupted, though the whole time Harry had the feeling that it couldn't last. Sure enough, at the end of a song, they were approached again, this time by Angelo and Kiran.

At first, though, Harry wasn't sure that he wanted to be near them. Someone (probably Angelo) had charmed Kiran's hair and gold clothes to glitter with pink and silver sparkles, and he looked rather perturbed by this. It didn't help that what Angelo was wearing revealed so much and looked so good on him that it was amazing no one had dragged him away from Kiran off to another room. Kiran didn't look very happy about this either.

Draco's grip on Harry tightened possessively as they stopped next to the two fourth years. "If you're here to ask for a dance, he's not available anymore."

Harry gave him an exasperated glare, but Angelo merely shook his head. "We are not here for that. We are here to give presents."

Harry blushed faintly when Angelo held a hand out to him. "You don't have to. I didn't get you anything."

"I want to," Angelo answered with a smile. Behind him, Kiran was looking sulkily away at the Christmas tree. Hesitantly, Harry held out a hand and Angelo placed something small and cold in it. When Harry brought his hand back, he saw that it was a small glass vial filled with something a red so dark it was almost black.

"What is it?" Harry asked as he turned the vial over in his hands.

"It is my way promising my services to you," Angelo answered softly. "If you are ever in need of assistance, break the vial and I will immediately appear at your side."

Behind him, Draco let out a soft gasp, but Harry was still incredibly confused. "What's in it?"

"Blood. My blood, more specifically." Angelo raised a hand to calm Harry at his horrified expression. "Blood magic happens to be a specialty of mine. It is much easier for me to use than this silly stuff we have been learning with wands. When the vial is broken, the blood will call out to me, and I will come to you."

"But...why would you give me something like this?" Harry asked, still trying to get his head around all this.

"Because I like you, as Blaise undoubtedly told you when he warned you about me. Yes, I know about that," he added when Harry looked shocked. "And he told you nothing but the truth. I have promised Kiran that I will not touch you again, but I can do nothing about my feelings. So I would like you to know that if you ever need anything, I will do whatever you ask, and if you are in danger, I will be there to help."

"Th-thank you," Harry stuttered after a moment's hesitation. He wasn't sure what else to say. What could one say to something like that? Then he registered part of it and glanced between the two older Slytherins. "So, did you two make up?"

"Yes, last week on the Solstice actually." Angelo smiled fondly back at Kiran, who just rolled his eyes. "I think we get along better now than before our disagreement, in fact."

"That's great!" Harry said with a grin. He slipped the vial into his pocket as he added, "And thank you again. I'm sorry I didn't get you anything."

"I did not expect you to," Angelo answered with a brief shake of his head. Then he stepped aside to let Kiran move to stand in front of Harry. Harry was completely nonplussed.

"You didn't have to get me anything either..."

"I wanted to," Kiran answered, "same as Angelo." He reached into his pocket and pulled out something long and shiny. "I would like for you to have this."

Harry's eyes widened as Kiran handed him an exquisite golden dagger. The handle was molded into two robed figures, each holding one of the two swords that formed the guard. Two sets of wings rose up from the figures to create the sheath of the blade, somehow completely covering it without any extra metal.

"It's beautiful," Harry murmured, running his fingers along the wings. "You're giving it to me? Why?"

"You're going to need it soon," Kiran answered cryptically. "It's called Flame of Mortals. It was made thousands of years ago by the archangels Michael and Uriel and had been passed down in my family ever since. But it is always dull in our hands. In yours, it'll be sharp, and all of its powers will work."

"I don't understand," Harry said, shaking his head. Kiran sighed and took the dagger back again.

"Watch," he said as he unsheathed it, revealing a sliver blade etched with designs of flames. Without hesitation, he dragged the blade hard across his bare arm. It didn't make so much as a red mark.

"If you were the one holding it, however, that would have cut my hand off," Kiran said as he handed the blade and sheath back. Sure enough, when Harry lightly pressed his finger against the blade while he was holding it, thin red line began to form.

"But why is it sharp while I'm holding it and not you?"

"It only works for pure humans," Kiran answered as if that explained everything. Harry's eyes widened slightly.

"You're not–"

"That's not why I'm giving to you," Kiran interrupted, holding a hand up to stop him. "I'm giving it to you for the same reason Angelo gave you his gift. If you drive the blade into the ground and say my name, I'll appear at your side instantly."

Harry stared at him in shock. Was Kiran really offering his support like Angelo had?

Kiran smirked faintly at the look on his face. "I would like you to know, Potter, that I still don't like you, but I can accept that much of that is jealousy. I swear that I will protect you if you accept this. I can recognize true power when I see it."

Harry just stared at him for a moment. Then his fingers tightened on the dagger and he sheathed it solemnly. "I accept it. Thank you."

Kiran bowed with a very small smile, and he and Angelo left to look at the tree.

Draco was staring at them in shock. "I can't believe he gave you that. Angelo too, that's...wow, Harry."

"I know, I thought Kiran hated me..."

"No, you don't understand," Draco said, shaking his head. "Giving you those things–the blood especially–it binds them to you. It's like you own a part of them now; in all but the most extreme cases, they have to do whatever you tell them to do. It isn't something to be taken lightly."

Harry's eyes widened and he stared over at the two Slytherins again. "Why would they do something like that?"

"They must think you're someone to follow," Draco answered softly. "Or they've Seen something and decided that you're going to need protection. You're really lucky. Binding magic like that is more powerful and more respected than marriage binding magic."

Harry had stopped listening, however, and was frowning down at the dagger in his hands. "Draco, what did Kiran mean when he said he's not pure human?"

"I don't know," Draco answered with a shake of his head. "We don't know anything about Kiran, except that he's only a few hours older than Angelo. That dagger wouldn't be sharp for Angelo either, actually."

"What? Why?" Harry asked, suddenly quite alarmed.

"I'm not allowed to tell you. I'm sure Blaise mentioned that. Only Dumbledore, Severus, or Angelo himself can."

"Yeah, he did." Harry was suddenly struck by inspiration. "Wait, you said he has to do what I say now, right? Could I order him to tell me what he is?"

"You could," Draco answered slowly. "But you shouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Well, besides the fact that you shouldn't abuse the bond like that, and the fact that he would probably tell you regardless of the bond if you asked, you wouldn't be able to handle it."

Harry's eyes narrowed slightly. "Draco, you'd better not be warning me 'for my own good'."

"Harry, think back to what I told you earlier," Draco said hurriedly. "If I had told you that last year, how would you have reacted?"

"I would have yelled at you, and called you disgusting, and I wouldn't have wanted to be your friend anymore."

"Exactly," Draco said with a serious look. "You weren't ready for it then. This is just like that. You aren't ready to know. You'll overreact. He'll tell you when he thinks you're ready for it."

Harry sighed and nodded, not liking it, but Draco had a point. He was insanely curious about what Angelo was, but it could wait.

Later, when Harry was gathering his presents together so he could go (Draco had already left with Blaise, who had looked half-asleep), he found a small unopened box sitting on top of his books. As it had his name on it, he opened it cautiously; sitting inside was a small model of an eagle and a folded note. Trying not to disturb the eagle, as it was asleep, he carefully slid the note out of the box and unfolded it.

_Harry,_

_I would have liked to give this to you in person, but you seemed to be enjoying Draco's company too much, and I didn't want to disturb you again. This eagle is not only a toy; if you are in need of help, you may send it to find me and I'll be at your side as soon as possible._

_You are in danger, Harry. Angelo and I have been Seeing vague visions of it for the last few weeks, and Kiran has been getting impressions of it also. I do not believe that it is from the upcoming tasks; it is something far more dangerous looming in your future. Please take our promises of support seriously. None of us would like to see you hurt._

_Thank you very much for the lynx. I'll keep it with me always._

_Aaron_

Harry was starting to get unnerved by all this, but Aaron didn't think that he was in danger from the tasks, so that was a little reassuring. And now he knew he had three people he could count on to help him if he ever needed it. From the sound of what Aaron had written, he was going to need all the help he could get.


	9. Part II Ch VIII End of the Beginning

AN: The title of this chap comes from track nine of 30 Seconds to Mars's self-title album. The lyrics really have nothing to do with this chapter.

* * *

Background Secrets

Part II: Fourth Year

Chapter VIII: End of the Beginning

"Hey Harry, bad news."

Harry looked up from his homework at the twins as they stepped through the portrait hole. Both were wearing identical distraught expressions and he was immediately concerned.

"What is it? What's happened?"

"It's gone," Fred answered mournfully as he slumped down into the nearest sofa, his twin sitting next to him.

"What's gone?"

"The mirror passage," George said, looking hopeless.

"And it looks worse than last time; I don't think we can fix it," Fred added, shaking his head.

Harry's blood ran cold as he stared at them in shock. Then he remembered that it was the twins he was talking to and grinned nervously. "Very funny. You almost had me going there for a moment." The grin turned to a horrified look after a few moments of the twins still looking morose. "You're not serious?"

"'Fraid so," George sighed, shaking his head as well. "We went to start pulling down the decorations and could barely get inside."

"Looks like the whole ceiling collapsed again. We think maybe the icicles blew up," Fred added, seemingly embarrassed to admit this, "since we used a variation of the _Lumos_ transfiguration spell to light them."

"So we went around to the other side to check. It's all gone, and half the tunnel's gone too."

"What are they on about, Harry?" Ron asked, looking completely nonplussed. Hermione, who already knew that they'd cleared out the mirror passage, just looked sad for Harry.

Harry sighed and dragged his fingers through his hair. "Last year, after Fred and George gave me the Marauder's Map, I thought it might be nice to have more than one way out of the school, so I convinced them to help me clear out the passage behind the mirror on the fourth floor."

"It seemed pretty stable, but I guess it really wasn't," Fred said with a sigh.

"Well, not if the icicles blew up, no!" Harry accused frustrated. "Why did you _Lumos_ them? I thought you knew that was unstable!"

"Hey, we thought we'd finally perfected it," George said defensively. "The lights in the tunnel haven't blown up for months."

"_Now_ what are you on about?" Ron asked, looking a bit sour. Obviously, he was rather unhappy that he'd been left out of all this.

"We figured out how to transfigure objects into spells," Fred answered impatiently. Hermione let out an awed gasp.

"But that's supposed to be really, really difficult," she whispered. "Professor McGonagall doesn't even teach us that."

"Not usually, no," George responded with a smirk.

"Anyway, we discovered that something transfigured into a _Lumos_ spell keeps its original shape. Only, it gets a bit unstable."

"Blows up after a month or so. We got a friend of ours to make up a potion that would counteract that, and it really seemed to work."

"Did you coat the icicles in that?" Harry asked, faintly annoyed.

Both twins paled. "I think we may have forgotten with everything else going on."

Harry groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I can't believe this."

"Fred and I are going to go see what we can do," George said as he stood up. "It looks pretty hopeless, but maybe we can do something."

"Why don't you come with us, Harry?" Fred added as he followed his twin to the portrait hole. "Maybe you'll think of something we haven't."

"All right." Harry tidied his homework papers before he got up and followed them out.

Not far down the corridor, Fred let out a relieved sigh and gave Harry a mischievous grin. "Well, I think they believed it. Hermione certainly did, anyway."

Harry stared at him, completely bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

"The SGC isn't really gone, Harry," George explained with his own grin.

"Though it would be, if we'd really done that to the icicles," Fred said with a laugh. "We charmed them with a completely different spell; they could last years without even dimming."

Harry just stared at them, unsure of what to believe. They had certainly seemed sincere back in the common room. "You mean it's still there?"

"Yep, with not a pebble out of place."

"We came up with that story to throw off Ron and Hermione."

Harry's eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced back the way they'd come. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Hermione's been getting really suspicious of you lately," Fred said seriously.

"And Ron's been noticing your absences a lot more often, especially now that Seamus is involved," George added.

"We overheard him complain to her yesterday that if the two of you disappear together again, he's going to start tailing you."

"And then Hermione mentioned the map, so you might want to guard that 'cause he'll probably try to steal it."

"Obviously, we can't have that, 'cause Hermione knows where we've been meeting and would lead him right to it."

"So we came up with that," George finished, gesturing vaguely, "to throw them off. We couldn't tell you beforehand because your reactions had to be genuine."

"Did you really think we'd be so careless as to _Lumos_ the icicles and then leave them unstable? C'mon, Harry."

Harry stared at them for a moment before he grinned as well. "Has anyone ever told you that you're both geniuses?"

"All the time, Harry, all the time."

* * *

"Hey, Harry." 

"Hey," Harry greeted as he sat down once the once-again green loveseat next to Draco. "I can't stay long; I've got to meet Ron and Hermione in the library."

"All right." Draco seemed rather disappointed about this, but he gestured for Harry to continue nonetheless.

"Okay, so, on Thursday night, I went to try out Cedric's advice about the egg..."

Harry explained everything that had happened that night, including the entire egg clue and what he had seen on the map. Draco didn't interrupt and was frowning thoughtfully by the end.

"It couldn't have been Crouch," Draco said finally, shaking his head. "Although I can't see how it could have been anyone else. That map sees through Invisibility Cloaks and Animagus forms, so it probably sees through anything else. You said he was in Severus's office?"

"Yeah, and Snape said he thought something had been taken."

"Hmm. I'll ask Angelo about it. He or Aaron might know something. Could you repeat the clue?"

Harry did and Draco gained an unsettled look the mirrored what the Gryffindor was feeling.

"Do you have any idea how I'm supposed to breath underwater for an hour?" Harry asked hopefully; Draco almost read more than Hermione, so he might have come across something. However, he wasn't entirely disappointed when Draco shook his head.

"I don't have a clue. Although...I seemed to remember coming across something once that would help." Draco gave him a warm smile. "I'll look into it, and I'll ask Angelo about it too, okay?"

"Thanks, Draco," Harry said as he hugged Draco and kissed his cheek without prompting. "You're a great boyfriend."

* * *

Harry was starting to panic. It was only two weeks until the Second Task and he still had no idea how he was supposed to last an hour underwater. Draco hadn't found anything yet, nor had Angelo, Kiran, Blaise, Lee, or Seamus, all of whom had been asked to help. Also, neither Angelo nor Aaron had known about what had happened that Thursday night until Draco asked them about it, but they had promised to keep an eye out for Crouch or anything else strange. 

In a last ditch attempt for help, Harry stayed after class in Transfiguration to talk to Professor McGonagall.

"Potter, you'll be late for lunch if you don't hurry up," she said reprovingly as he sluggishly put away his belongings. He ignored this and waited for everyone else to leave, then headed up to Professor McGonagall's desk.

"Professor, could I ask you something?"

Professor McGonagall regarded him with surprise. "As I'm sure you are aware, Potter, the teachers have been warned against giving any help to the Champions. You're supposed to do it on your own."

"I know. I don't want to ask you for help." Harry steeled himself before asking desperately, "Could you give me permission to look in the Restricted Section? I'm having trouble finding anything in the main library."

Professor McGonagall seemed surprised again, yet she nodded after a very short time. "Very well."

Harry waited patiently for Professor McGonagall to write the note, but as soon as she gave it to him, it was obvious that he wanted nothing more than to leave immediately.

"Thanks, Professor!"

"Actually, Potter, I have something I need to discuss with you."

Harry's heart fell slightly. Was she going to tell him off for asking so many people to help him? "What is it, Professor?"

"Well, as I'm sure you know by now, the task requires you to rescue that which is most precious to you." Her expression changed very slightly as she continued, "It has come to our attention that you and Malfoy are now...dating. If that is the case, then he will be what you have to rescue from the lake."

Harry's mouth went dry. That couldn't happen. The whole school would be watching; they'd figure everything out as soon as he came up with Draco in his arms. It would put them both in danger.

"No," he said softly.

"I'm sorry?"

"No, it can't be Draco." Harry turned pleading eyes on his Head of House. "Please, Professor, pick something else. We really don't want anyone to know. And if he's the one I have to rescue, his father'll find out, and he'll kill Draco."

Professor McGonagall seemed to relax a bit and nodded. "Yes, Professor Dumbledore is aware of that. However, we wanted your opinion before we decided. Professor Dumbledore would be able to protect Malfoy."

"No. We still don't want the school to know, either."

"Very well, Potter. You may go now."

Harry gave her a relieved smile and ran out. "Thanks again, Professor!"

* * *

Draco was fuming. Again. In fact, he thought he might be angrier now than he had been last year at this time. Harry seemed to be more irritating now than he ever had been while and before they were friends. 

Why was he fuming? Three words: the Second Task. He'd been waiting all day the day beforehand for someone to come kidnap him or tell him he was needed for the Task. After all, he was Harry's _boyfriend_. He should have come above all else in importance. But no one came, and next he knew, he was watching Harry bob to the surface of the lake with Weasley. Not Draco; _Weasley_. Of course, he wasn't jealous of Weasley; no, Malfoys were never jealous of Weasleys. He was, however, extremely furious.

Then Harry had the nerve to step into the SGC with a smile on his face. It fell as soon as he saw Draco's expression, but Draco could tell he had no idea what was going on.

"Hi, Draco," Harry finally said with a hesitant smile.

"Harry," Draco answered curtly. Harry's smile disappeared and was replaced by a worried expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly. "Is it something that I did?"

"No, of course not," Draco answered with a roll of his eyes. Harry was learning, but he could still be rather clueless.

"Draco, what did I do?" Harry asked, sounding slightly desperate.

"It's not what you did, you prat; it's how you _feel_."

Harry just shook his head, still utterly confused.

Draco let out an annoyed sigh and flopped down into one of the chairs. Being angry wasn't going to get him anywhere if Harry didn't get angry _and_ didn't know what he was mad about. Draco gestured him forward and Harry let out a yelp of surprise when he was pulled backwards down onto the blond's lap.

"Weasley," Draco murmured into Harry's ear. "Why was _Weasley_ your hostage?"

Draco felt Harry still in his arms; the brunet finally understood. That didn't mean he wasn't still furious with the younger boy.

"Draco–"

"_Why_, Harry? Why was you best friend your hostage and not you boyfriend? Is he _still_ more important to you than I am?"

"What? No, of course not–"

"Then why–"

"Draco!" Harry interrupted impatiently. "If you would listen for a moment, I'll explain."

Draco fell silent, though he was glaring at the back of Harry's head, annoyed that another one of his rants had been interrupted.

"Ron is _not_ more important to me than you," Harry said softly, his voice strained as though that was something hard for him to admit. "How could you think that? You're my boyfriend. Some of what you know about me, Ron doesn't know."

"But–"

"Ron was my hostage because I didn't want you to be. Professor McGonagall talked to me before the task and told me that unless I said otherwise, I'd be rescuing you from the lake. I said otherwise. I didn't want our secret to come out like that, and I didn't want to put you in danger."

"How did she know I was that important to you?" Draco asked, horrified.

"I have no idea, but it's probably the same way they knew who was most important to the other Champions."

"And she asked you about it first?" Draco said incredulously.

"She knew that we didn't want to say anything about it," Harry murmured, staring at his lap, "so she made sure no one would find out."

Draco stared at Harry's messy black hair, marveling at how much Professor McGonagall seemed to care for the fragile boy in his arms. Even more amazing was that Harry had wanted to protect him; he really had been listening when Draco had told him about his father those few months ago.

He smiled and pressed a light kiss to Harry's temple, enjoying the way the Gryffindor shivered because of it. "All right, I'm not mad at you anymore. I suppose it would have been a problem if I'd been your hostage. I'd probably be dead by Easter."

"I know," Harry murmured, touching one of the pale hands on his waist.

"You're so sweet," Draco said, hugging him tightly. Harry squirmed uncomfortably.

"Draco, you're squishing me."

"No, I'm not," Draco remarked with a slight smirk. He knew that Harry was only complaining because he didn't like being touched so much.

"Draco–"

"No, Harry." Draco twisted so he could look sternly into Harry's eyes. "This thing you have about people touching you has got to stop if we're going to be dating. You were okay when we were dancing."

"I-I had time to relax then," Harry stuttered, looking alarmed. "And I have not got a 'thing' about people touching me. I do just fine."

"Harry, you hate it when you're touched," Draco said softly; he was troubled by the fact that Harry didn't seem aware of it. "Even when it's your friends, you shy away when you're touched. You panic when you're hugged, and you really hate crowds. I can't pretend I haven't noticed it; you do it with me, too."

Harry frowned thoughtfully and looked away.

"Harry, I want to be able to touch you without you flinching or squirming," Draco murmured, shifting so he could still see Harry's face. Harry shut his eyes and gained a pained expression but didn't try to move away.

"Do I really do all that?"

Draco started after the long silence but nodded in response. "Yes, though you've gotten better. You don't pull away when I kiss you, now, and you usually don't move away from Weasley and Granger."

"I had no idea..." Harry turned trouble green eyes onto Draco. "Will you help me?"

"Of course," Draco said with a faint smile. "Relax."

"How will that help?"

"You said it helped when we were dancing. It'll help now."

Harry sighed softly but did as he was told and was soon limp against Draco. Draco wished he didn't have to end it, as he was quite comfortable, but they weren't going to make any progress that way. He started trailing his fingers along Harry's arm. Harry immediately tensed again.

"Harry," Draco sighed with annoyance. "I'm not going to hurt you. Relax."

Harry threw him a brief glare but did slowly relax again. Draco smiled again and resumed his slow touches. He could feel Harry tense up again, but it wasn't as much as before and he was obviously fighting the impulse.

After only about ten minutes, however, Harry whispered, "Stop, please, Draco."

"All right." Draco stopped and let go of Harry completely. He wasn't surprised when Harry immediately pulled away and moved so that he wasn't in contact with Draco at all.

"I-I guess you were right about the touching thing," Harry said softly, avoiding Draco's eyes. Draco frowned at this and moved so that he could look Harry in the eyes.

"Harry, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. It's those stupid relatives of yours that should be ashamed. But you did really well, Harry, you really did."

"I did?"

"Yes, you did."

Harry smiled and gave Draco a brief kiss. "I'll try to do better, promise."

"I know you will. You'll do great."

_

* * *

Meet me at the SGC right after breakfast. Urgent. Draco_

Harry clutched the note in his fist as he walked quickly up to the mirror passage. Draco rarely sent him notes like this that had no fake letter on the back, so he knew it must be important. In fact, he knew something must be wrong as soon as he stepped though the mirror. Draco was already there, pacing in front of the fireplace and looking rather distraught. He didn't even seem to notice Harry at first.

"Draco?" Harry called, concerned. Draco paused and turned with an anxious look. Harry marveled that he didn't look the least bit disheveled, though anyone else would.

"Harry! I'm so glad you're here! I couldn't face him on my own."

"Who?"

"Co–Sirius." Draco glanced nervously at the entrance to the Hogsmeade tunnel. "He said he wanted to meet me in person. Today. What if he doesn't like me? What if he hexes me on the spot? What if–"

"Draco!" Harry exclaimed, trying to sound exasperated so the blond would shut up. Draco gave him a pitiful look, and he couldn't help but head over to envelope the Slytherin in a loose hug. "I'm sure Sirius will like you. You've been writing to him for almost eight months now, and he firecalled you earlier this year. Doesn't that seem like he's taken to you already?"

"Yes," Draco muttered sulkily.

"I'm sure he won't change his mind just because he's really meeting you in person."

"He might," Draco whined, pouting slightly. Harry smiled gently and pressed a kiss to Draco's cheek.

"It'll be fine, Draco. Sirius is really nice, and you said he trusts you–"

"Maybe not anymore."

They both started and jumped apart, staring wide-eyed at the man who had just come into the room. Harry was the first to recover and he grinned at the ragged man.

"Sirius! How are you?"

"A little shocked, but can you blame me?"

Harry's grin fell and he immediately looked as nervous as he felt. Maybe Draco's fears had some truth to them after all.

Sirius looked back and forth between them for a moment before stepping forward. "So, is there a story behind this?"

"Ah, no, not much," Harry said hurriedly.

Draco glared at him. "That's a lie and you know it."

"Draco, what if Sirius doesn't like that–"

"Who cares, you'll still have the SG and me."

"But that's not the same–"

"This place is pretty cool. Wish we'd thought of it."

The two fourth years looked over, startled again. Sirius was now sitting in the middle of one of the sofas, and he was looking around with a grin, completely ignoring their argument. Harry smiled faintly, hoping that meant Sirius wasn't going to ask further about what he'd seen, and tugged Draco over to sit next to the man.

"Our friends did most of this," Harry said as he sat down on one side of Sirius, while Draco sat on his other side. "We helped clear it out, though. It was caved in, and we're still using that story so no one tries to find it. We meet here all the time."

"It's nice. Better than my cave, anyway." Sirius suddenly turned solemn again and added, "So, I'd like to know the story behind what I just saw."

Harry stared at him nervously but Draco immediately started talking, explaining about the first letters they'd sent each other. Soon, Harry chimed in and they both told the whole story, sometimes finishing each others' thoughts and sentences. Sirius didn't interrupt, though several times he seemed close to it, like when Draco mentioned their first kiss and when Harry told about their fight that had ended in the Insularis Rite.

The two fourth years stared at each other when they finished, amazed that they'd told the story together like that. Sirius was glancing between them contemplatively.

"So, you two are together now?"

"Yeah," Harry murmured with a blush.

Sirius gave him an appraising look before he sighed. "Well, I'd be lying if I said I'm surprised, though I wish you'd waited until fifth year at least."

Harry stared at him in shock. "Does that mean you're okay with it?"

Sirius was silent for a moment. "I don't know if 'okay' is the right word. I think it would be better if you weren't with a Malfoy–"

"I'm not going to hurt him!" Draco exclaimed, outraged.

"–but I'd be a hypocrite if I said I disapproved. Remus and I had a brief fling in sixth year. It didn't last, but I don't regret it."

"Remus...you mean Professor Lupin?"

Sirius nodded with a faint smile.

"Whoa, I never would have guessed."

"It was a long time ago. Anyway, it's natural to experiment while you're growing up. I don't mind." Sirius gave Harry a wicked grin before turning back to Draco, who still looked rather furious. "Sorry about that comment earlier. I'm not worried about you, just your parents."

"I'm going to keep Harry safe from them," Draco sneered, though he seemed less hurt. "You forget, they'll hurt me too if they found out about this."

"I know; I was out of line. Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about your friendship with Harry. I wanted to know how you're doing on your Animagus research."

Draco smiled faintly and at once launched into a tirade of incomprehensible terms and theories, or so it seemed to Harry. He was lost after less than a minute, but Sirius seemed to understand completely as he nodded or commented every so often.

It was so odd watching them, like two of his lives had suddenly crashed together; the secret one with Draco and SG, and the public one with Sirius, Ron, and Hermione. Sure, he'd known that Sirius and Draco had been writing each other, as they'd both told him, but it was much different actually seeing them together in person. He was sure that any second now, Angelo would pop out of the shadows wearing a pink and gold dress and fairy wings to tell him that this was just some crazy, but normal, dream.

After a few minutes, Harry got tired of listening to prattle that meant nothing to him and got Draco's permission to look though his bag so he could start on his homework, since he hadn't brought his own. The first things he encountered were the two sci-fi books he'd given Draco and the notes the blond had been taking on them. Curiosity got the best of him, and he glanced briefly over at his companions before carefully pulling the notes out. The first parchment had the title of the second book at the top and was otherwise covered by various runes. The second parchment was covered in Draco's neat handwriting.

–_Muggles have doors that open automatically, mechanized, probably use electricity_

–_arc pen? welds metal together_

–_robot? also uses electricity (was shorted by it), made of metal, possibly humanoid_

"Hey Harry, could you hand me my Animagus book?"

Harry started at Draco's voice and hastily hid the parchments. Then he hurriedly dug through Draco's bag and handed the book to the blond. Draco accepted it with a smile and a "thanks" and promptly began showing it to Sirius while talking rapidly again.

Feeling guilty, Harry carefully slipped the notes back where he'd found them and pulled out Draco's Potions book to start reading the assigned material. He was sure that Draco wasn't going to be making automatic doors or robots, so at least he hadn't found out the blond's secret project, or he'd feel really guilty.

Harry has halfway through his Herbology essay when Sirius finally stood and stretched, getting ready to leave. He thumped Harry on the shoulder with a grin. "You take care of yourself, okay? And remember, don't come sneaking out of the castle to see me. If I ever need to talk to you, I'll come here."

"Okay. It was great seeing you again, Sirius." Harry laughed softly as he added, "Especially since I just saw you last week too."

"Yeah, well, can't see your godfather too often, eh?" Sirius grinned at him again and gesture to Draco. "C'mon, Draco, I want to talk to you about something."

Draco followed him to the hole in the wall with a bewildered expression. Harry watched them go and tried to hear what the were saying, but an odd buzzing filled his ears and he couldn't hear anything. Soon, Sirius gave him a friendly wave, transformed into a giant black dog, and ran out into the tunnel and back to Hogsmeade. Draco came back looking somewhat unsettled.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as he stood and handed Draco's bag back to him.

"Oh, it's nothing." Draco immediately looked carefree again as shook his head with a smile. "Thanks for coming, Harry. I don't think I could have handled being here alone with him, even if he does like me."

"No problem." Though he was immensely curious as to what Sirius had told Draco that had bothered him so much, he trusted that Draco would tell him eventually and dropped the subject. "Let's go to lunch," he said instead, heading over to the mirror. Draco grinned and followed him.

"By the way," Draco murmured just as he was about to step through the mirror. "You're lucky you didn't read more of my notes than you did. You would have really regretted it."

Then he left Harry standing dumbfounded behind the mirror, wondering how Draco could have seen him looking at those parchments when he'd been so involved in his discussion with Sirius.

_

* * *

Draco! Are you there? I need to talk to you!_

Harry waited impatiently for Draco to respond, hardly aware that it was quite late and the blond might not even be awake. Dumbledore had said that he couldn't send a letter to Sirius until morning, but he didn't have to leave Gryffindor Tower to talk to his boyfriend.

**What is it?**

Harry looked down at the response in relief and immediately answered, though he'd had a brainwave while he'd been waiting as well.

_I need to talk to you. Right now. Could you go get Angelo and Kiran too?_

**Do you want to talk over the scrolls?**

_Yes. Now. It's really important._

Draco didn't respond and Harry could only assume it was because he was dashing to find the two sixth years. Normally, Harry wouldn't have wanted them present, but he'd suddenly remembered that they were essentially his bodyguards now, so they should know about what had happened as well.

**All right, they're here. What is it?**

Harry thought for a moment before writing the reply.

_Crouch was here._

**What? Barty Crouch?**

_Yeah, that Crouch. He was here._

Explain.

Harry blinked at the change in handwriting; he forgotten for a moment that Angelo and Kiran were there. This was Kiran by the look of it, though he'd never seen either older boy's handwriting.

_All right. Bagman called us down to the Quidditch Pitch to tell us what the last task is. After that, Krum wanted to talk with me, so we went off on own own–he didn't want to be over heard–_

**Krum? What did he want?**

_He wanted to know what there is between me and Hermione–which is nothing, by the way, Draco. We stopped near the forest and talked about it. Then Crouch showed up. He was babbling, not making much sense. At times, he was speaking as though he thought Percy Weasley was there and his son and wife were alive. Then he'd have trouble stringing two words together but he knew where he was and what was going on._

Is he still here?

_No, but I'm not there yet._

_**Ignore Kiran. He is just impatient. Please continue, Harry.**_

Harry was started for a moment but soon figured that this very neat, slightly old-fashioned writing must be Angelo's.

_It's okay. Anyway, while he was...sane, he mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and Voldemort, and his son again. And he kept saying stuff was his fault. And he seemed to think Bertha was dead and that Voldemort's getting stronger._

Harry waited for a response, but when none came he continued.

_He wanted to talk to Dumbledore, so I left him with Krum to go get him. I ran into Snape and then Dumbledore and we went back. When we got there, Krum was Stunned and Crouch was gone._

Is he still gone?

_Yes, as far as I know. When we woke Krum up, he said that Crouch had attacked him. Then Moody showed up and Dumbledore set him to finding Crouch._

**Is that it?**

_Well, obviously, Karkaroff was informed. He came to make sure Krum was okay. Then Dumbledore sent me back here. I had to tell you about it now; Dumbledore said not to leave the Tower until morning._

**_It is good that you decided to tell us. _**Angelo wrote after a moment.

_I didn't want Draco to get upset that I hadn't told him something like this again. And I figured you and Kiran should know._

_**Yes, thank you. This change of events is rather disturbing.**_

It's confirmed something we've been aware of for a while.

_Yeah, Aaron mentioned that to me. Do you know what you've been Seeing now?_

_**No, this was not what we have been Seeing. I think that this may be related somehow, but what we have Seen has to do directly with you.**_

_So we still don't really know anything._

_**No. However, I have noticed that Moody has been walking around quite a lot at night, more than the other teachers.**_

_Dumbledore probably asked him to do it. He is and ex-Auror after all._

_**Well, I suppose I have noticed it more because I am always out at night. At least he has been told about me so he will not hex me if we ever run into each other in the night.**_

Yes, he is rather paranoid. What is the Third Task, Potter?

_A maze with obstacles. Not too hard; I've done that sort of thing before and I've got warning this time._

**We'll help you find spells to use for that.**

_Thanks, Draco._

We need to discuss all of this. We'll keep you informed, Potter.

_Thanks, Kiran._

_**Aaron will need to know.**_

_You can tell him. I want him to know. He's bonded to me too._

_**Yes, we know. Thank you for tell us about this, Harry.**_

_You're welcome._

Harry had to wait several minutes for a reply, and when it came, it was in Draco's handwriting.

**Sorry, I was just seeing them out.**

_It's okay. So, what do you think about all this?_

**I think you had better start carrying your bonding items and your cloak with you at all times, that's what.**

_Do you really thin that's necessary?_

**You could die, Harry! I promised you that I wouldn't let you die in this tournament, and I intend to make good on that promise.**

_Okay, okay, I will. What would I do without you?_

**You'd die of boredom.**

_Hey, are you still meeting with Sirius on Saturday?_

**Yes, why?**

_You've met with him every Saturday since the beginning of March! When are we going to get together again?_

**We have. The Spring Equinox, remember?**

Harry blushed slightly. He certainly did remember. Draco had decked out a part of the SGC to look like a high-end restaurant and invited Harry to dinner. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for him, and it made him blush anytime he thought about it.

**And there was the twins' birthday party. Besides, my birthday's on a Saturday this year, and I intend to spend as much time as I can with you then.**

_I won't be able to stay for more than a couple hours._

**I know. But it'll still be with me.**

_Have the twins told you what time it's going to be yet?_

**No.**

_Darn, they haven't told me either. Or Seamus._

**They'll let everyone know eventually. Hey, we both need to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow in Potions, okay?**

_Okay. Good night, Draco._

**Good night.

* * *

**

Harry waited ten minutes into History of Magic before he couldn't take waiting any longer and pulled out his IM scroll. Normally, he'd use this class to sleep, but after the events of the day before, he needed to talk to Draco badly and it was unlikely that he would get a chance at any other time. He would just have to pray that Draco had his scroll with him and would be paying attention to it.

Harry had been waiting fifteen minutes and was doodling on the charmed parchment when Draco actually answered.

**That's cute. What do you need? What class are you in?**

_History of Magic. You?_

**Transfiguration, but I can always borrow Pansy or Blaise's notes. What is it?**

_I need to tell you something that happened yesterday–_

**All right, hang on a moment. Aaron, Angelo, Kiran.**

_What was that all about?_

**I gave them their own scrolls. After what you told us last week, I figured it would be pretty useful for them to have them. Writing their names signals their scrolls.**

Harry was rather startled by this development, but it really was a good idea. He now had four people to call upon rather than just one.

**_Draco, what is it?_**

_Did you need something, Draco?_

**Harry does.**

Alright, go on then, Potter.

Though he was even more startled by this, Harry began to write, telling them about his dream and what he'd seen in Dumbledore Pensieve. Thankfully, no one tried to interrupt as he wrote. The chaos erupted once he was finished.

**Voldemort can hold a wand!?**

_**Yes, we were afraid of this.**_

_It was a likelihood as soon as Crouch went missing._

_Do you know what's going on, Aaron?_

_No, any time I try to See more about this event, my vision in clouded. I'm afraid we only know as much as we've told you._

**What do you think it all means?**

Well, obviously, Voldemort's getting stronger. Especially if he can use a wand.

_Dumbledore said all these disappearances are connected. Maybe they have to do with Voldemort getting stronger too._

_**Undoubtedly. The appearance of the Dark Mark at the World Cup is probably related as well.**_

_Did anything from the Pensieve strike any of you as odd?_

Well, Bagman, but he's a complete moron. He wouldn't have the brains to do anything as complex as all this.

_No, but we'll look into it._

_**And we will continue to look up spells for you for the Third Task.**_

_Oh! Thanks so much!_

**_It is our pleasure. Ah, Kiran and I should leave before Professor Vector looks over. Thank you, Harry. We will see you at Draco's party._**

_Okay, bye!_

**Crap, I think McGonagall is coming over. See you, Harry!**

_Bye, Draco! Are you going too, Aaron?_

_Yes, I should. Take care of yourself, Harry._

_I will, thanks. Bye._

* * *

"Is that for me?" 

Harry looked up, startled, to see silver eyes staring at him barely inches away. He realized that Draco had stepped through the mirror while he'd been spacing out and hurriedly held out the present in his hands, embarrassed that Draco had needed to ask for it.

"Yes, sorry, here."

Draco took the present with an amused smirk. "Were you waiting long?"

"No, only a few minutes. Sorry," Harry said again, mentally berating himself. This was not going the way he'd wanted at all.

Draco's smirk turned to a faint smile and he pressed a chaste kiss to Harry's forehead before tugging him further into the SGC. "Let's go get some cake. I'm starving."

"We have to wait for everyone to show," Harry warned, letting himself be dragged over to their loveseat. Sitting on a low table in the middle of all the furniture was a large cake, bigger than last year's, still green but with little Snitches flying all over it. The whole cavern was decorated much like the previous year as well, but was completely devoid of any colours but green and silver and the decorations themselves were more elaborate.

Draco frowned as he looked around. "But everyone's here."

"No, I invited someone else. He should be here soon."

Draco's eyes narrowed very slightly at this. "Who?"

"Draco, you have nothing to worry about!" Harry said with a laugh. "Really, he's just a friend. I like _you_."

Draco let out a soft, disbelieving sound as he sat down and turned his attention on the beautiful cake. A moment later, however, Harry let out an excited cry.

"Sirius! You made it!"

Draco looked around in surprise to see Harry's godfather heading over with a large grin on his face. Harry grinned as well and dashed over to meet him.

"Of course," Sirius said teasingly. "I couldn't miss the chance to embarrass my only godson in front of loads of people."

"Thanks, Sirius, I feel so loved," Harry said dryly, rolling his eyes. Then he froze as he glanced back at the others.

Angelo, Kiran, and Cedric were standing poised to attack, their wands in hand. The twins and Lee looked horrified as they stared at Sirius; Aaron was frowning slightly, though he was still sitting and it was uncertain as to who he was frowning at; Blaise had stepped in front of Seamus with a guarded expression. Draco was merely sitting by, watching them all with an amused smirk.

Sirius was starting to look amused as well. "I suppose you haven't told them about me?" he asked Harry, gesturing at the SG, particularly those who were standing. Angelo shifted menacingly, his hand tightening on his wand.

"What are you doing here, murderer?" he hissed. Harry frowned slightly and stepped in front of Sirius, sure that Angelo wouldn't dare attack him.

"I invited Sirius here, Angelo," Harry said cautiously. "He's not going to hurt anyone."

Angelo seemed to relax very slightly, but none of the sixth-years' wands dropped a fraction. "Do you not know what he did, Harry? What he _is_?"

"I know what he's supposed to have done," Harry answered, his eyes narrowing slightly at the reminder. "Stand down, both of you. That's an order."

The effect was instantaneous. Angelo and Kiran's wands clattered to the ground and they both stood at attention. Everyone else stared at them in shock, except for Aaron and Draco who just seemed amused.

"You're going to listen to what I have to say," Harry continued, still trying hard to sound commanding, "and you will not attack Sirius. Now sit down."

Both Slytherins immediately sat down in their seats, followed shortly by a rather reluctant looking Cedric and Blaise. Harry remained standing, his arms crossed on his chest, making sure that he still looked angry and not amused or awed.

"Sirius is not a murderer," he stated, emphasising the words. "He was framed. Peter Pettigrew was the one who killed all those Muggles, and he isn't dead, either. Peter's an Animagus and after he blasted the street apart, he turned into a rat and escaped through the sewers. He has since joined up with Voldemort, his master. Sirius was convicted because he was at the scene of the crime and Peter wasn't. Peter was the one who was a Death Eater, and who sold my parents to Voldemort, and who killed all those people. Sirius is completely innocent. In fact, he's my godfather. Do you understand?"

"Then how did he escape from Azkaban?" Kiran demanded, glaring daggers at both Harry and Sirius. "How else but with Dark Magic he learned from Voldemort or by being friends with the dementors!"

"I'm an Animagus too," Sirius answered with a shrug. He turned into a black dog and back again to demonstrate. "See? No Dark Magic. I slipped out through the bars and swam to shore as a dog."

Angelo, Kiran, and Cedric still looked disbelieving and on edge, but everyone else relaxed at a nod from Aaron.

Harry sighed in frustration. "Isn't it enough that I believe him? I'm the one who should hate him most if he'd really betrayed my parents to Voldemort."

"We swore to protect you, Harry," Angelo answered softly, "from any and every threat."

"I know, and I do appreciate that," Harry said with a faint smile. "But Sirius isn't a threat."

"I'd be happy to explain the whole thing to you," Sirius added. The three sixth-years glanced at each other before nodding in agreement. Harry smiled in relief as he followed Sirius back over.

"That was quite a performance," Draco murmured as he pulled Harry down onto his lap. Harry glared weakly back at him.

"You could have helped, you know."

"Oh no, I was enjoying watching you too much. You're incredibly attractive when you're acting controlling and issuing orders like that."

Harry blushed and gave him another glare. "You're such a prat."

Draco grinned cheekily. "All a part of my charms. Can we have cake now?"

"No, we should wait for Sirius to finish, but you can open your present now if you'd like."

Draco eyes lit up and he eagerly grabbed the box he'd set aside earlier.

"What is it?" he asked as soon as he opened the box.

"It's called a 'Walkman,'" Harry answered with a soft laugh as he pulled the device out of the box. "It plays music off round disks called 'CDs.'"

Draco looked at it sceptically. "Isn't that a Muggle thing? It won't work here or at home."

"I asked Mr Pryor about that. He said it runs on magic, not electronics, so it'll work here. And I tested it before I bought it. Do you want to try it?"

Draco gave the Walkman another sceptic glance before he nodded. "All right. How does it work?"

"You have to put these on," Harry started as he slipped the headphones over Draco's ears. "Then you push the 'play' button. Tell me if it's too loud."

"It's fine," Draco murmured after a moment. He suddenly looked delighted. "It really does play music! How?"

"It reads the information off the CDs and turns it into sound, I think," Harry answered. He stopped the CD so he could open the Walkman to show it to Draco. "See? And you can change the CD like this. I bought you a few so you wouldn't have to listen to the same one over and over."

"Wow..." Draco took off the headphones and turned Harry around to give him a fierce kiss. "You're the best boyfriend I could have asked for!" he exclaimed before claiming Harry's lips again. "Thank you! You're so awesome!"

"Draco!" Harry protested with a laugh as Draco tried to kiss him again. "_I_'m not your birthday present!"

Draco gave him a predatory smirk. "That depends. I think I would like nothing more than to make out with you. Would you mind?"

"Well, no, but–"

Draco lips covered his own before he could say anything more. Harry let out a soft groan of protest that turned into a moan as Draco pressed him back against the arm of the loveseat, ravishing his mouth. His eyes slipped closed and his fingers slipped into Draco's hair, drawing soft moan from him. Draco's fingers began trailing down Harry's chest, but stopped when Harry squirmed uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry I haven't seen you more this semester," Draco murmured when he finally pulled away. "I wish I could make it up to you."

"It's alright, Draco," Harry answered softly. "I know that being an Animagus is important to you. Besides, I really liked the few times we did meet."

"Will you come dance with me? I asked to twins to set up some space so we could."

"Okay, but you'll...have to get off me," Harry answered, blushing fiercely. Draco smirked down at him.

"Are you sure you want me to get off?"

"Yes!" Harry answered immediately, his cheeks darkening.

Draco gave him a slight pout but stood and helped Harry up as well. "Let's go dance, then."

"Okay."

After only a few minutes, or so it seemed to Harry, Sirius came over and requested a short talk with Draco. They were both reluctant to part, but Draco promised to only be a couple minutes and followed Sirius back over to one of the couches. Not a second later, Cedric walked over to where Harry was waiting, seeming a bit nervous.

"Hey, Harry, could I talk with you?"

Harry glanced over at Draco for a second before he nodded. "Sure."

"In private?"

Harry blinked in surprise but nodded again and followed Cedric out into the tunnel to Hogsmeade. Cedric stopped and turned back to him only a few paces away from the entrance.

"I wanted to tell you this earlier," Cedric said after a long pause, "at our Christmas party, but I couldn't."

"What is it?" Harry asked, bewildered.

Cedric was silent again before he answered softly, "I wanted you to know that if Draco hadn't asked you out when he did, I would have."

Harry stared at him with wide eyes, completely taken aback. "W-what?"

"I've fallen in love with you, Harry," Cedric explained softly, his grey eyes never once leaving Harry's green ones. "I do love Cho as well; I can't deny that. And right now, I want to spend the rest of my life with her. But I couldn't help but fall for you too. You're so caring, and smart, and attractive, and _perfect_. It's hard _not_ to love you."

Harry's breath caught and he felt that same bubbly, happy feeling he'd had when Draco had confessed his feelings. But he _couldn't_ like Cedric, not like that; he already had _Draco_. It was just because Cedric was using that charming tone of voice, and those stunning eyes, and those kind words, wasn't it?

"Cedric, I–"

"I know you prefer Draco," Cedric interrupted with a slight shake of his head. "I thought that if I just acted like myself and didn't try to get your attention, you might notice me, but Draco was always there. I see now that I really didn't have a chance from the start. I waited too long."

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry asked softly, trying, and failing, to ignore the part of him that was jumping for joy.

"I never planned to hide this from you," Cedric answered. "But it took me a while to admit it to myself, and then longer to gather the courage to tell you. Especially after Christmas."

Harry bit his lip and looked away, unable to keep Cedric's calm gaze much longer. He felt so guilty, and for more than one reason. He felt as though he were cheating on Draco, but when he thought about it, he felt like he was cheating on Cedric too. He couldn't help it; somehow, Cedric had burrowed his way into Harry's heart just like Draco had. Not as much, but enough.

"So Draco was right to be jealous of you," Harry murmured, looking back up at the older boy again. "And this is why you've been acting more hostile towards him lately, like when we met down at the kitchens before Christmas."

Cedric nodded with a faint smile. "Actually, that was our only real confrontation. He told me to stay away from you or I'd really regret it. And I do regret it." Then his expression turned thoughtful as he added, "I've never figured out why he was so jealous of me. He has nothing to worry about if you don't like me."

Harry briefly looked away again before he answered, "I do like you. I don't know why or how, but I do. And I think Draco knows it and knows that you're a real threat to him."

Cedric smiled immediately, his eyes shining hopefully. "You do? Really?"

Harry blushed slightly as he nodded; it was so different confessing this to someone older than him.

"Then maybe...maybe over the summer you could think about it and decide who you like more?"

Harry stared at him. "What about Cho?"

"I'm still sorting out my feelings," Cedric answered, shaking his head. "I know I love both of you, but I still don't know how much. Maybe over the summer I'll figure that out."

Harry frowned slightly; something didn't seem right about all this. "Why are you telling me this now? Why not after the Third Task, right before school lets out?"

"Aaron told me that this is the only time I'll have before summer to tell you," Cedric answered, looking faintly uncomfortable. "I didn't want to tell you at Draco's birthday party, but that's how it turned out."

Harry blushed faintly at the idea that someone other than the two of them knew what was going on.

"So, will you think about it over the summer?" Cedric asked softly, looking immensely hopefully. He was so handsome at that moment that Harry found himself agreeing to without really realizing that he was.

"Thank you," Cedric said with a smile. "Draco's very lucky to have you. Anyone would be."

Harry flushed again and was about to protest that he wasn't anything special when Cedric closed the distance between them and covered Harry's lips with his own. It was chaste and over quickly, but Harry's heart was still pounding in his chest and his stomach was doing somersaults.

"You should get back to Draco," Cedric murmured as he pulled away again. "He's probably looking for you."

Harry nodded numbly and gave him a nervous smile before he stepped back into the SGC. After barely a step, something very light coloured collided him with him and made him fall back into Cedric, who had emerged behind him.

"Harry, I've been looking for you everywhere!" Draco's voice exclaimed too near his ear. "Where did you go?"

Harry winced and gently guided Draco away from the tunnel, murmuring an apology to Cedric as he did. "Cedric wanted to talk to me...about the Third Task," he told Draco, feeling horrible about lying to his boyfriend, but he knew that he had to do it. He didn't want to upset Draco on his birthday. "He wanted to know how I was doing and told me about a couple spells I could use."

"Useful ones I hope," Draco muttered, looking darkly at Cedric as the older boy wandered back over to the rest of the group.

"Yes, useful ones," Harry said, rolling his eyes. Then he turned serious and gently held Draco out at arm's length to look him in the eye. "Would you leave him alone? Please? He's not going to do anything."

"He likes you too much," Draco answered automatically.

Harry sighed. "I know, Draco, but could you please just leave him alone? Nothing will come of it."

Draco's eyes narrowed at that. "You like him back."

"What? No, don't be silly–"

"You do!" Draco exclaimed, sounding sure of it and more than a little accusatory. Harry cursed himself for opening his big mouth in the first place.

"Draco, I swear, nothing will come of it. I picked you, didn't I?"

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you liked him?" Draco demanded. Harry looked away, suddenly rather ashamed of himself.

"I don't know."

Draco scowled at him for a moment. "You could have told me, you know. It's not like it wasn't obvious. You've been giving him googly-eyes for months."

Harry was suddenly torn between feeling awful and laughing at Draco's choice of words. He settled for the former as he murmured, "I didn't realize it until today. I'm sorry."

Draco abruptly tugged Harry into a rather possessive embrace. "But you're still _mine_, right?" he growled into the younger's ear. Harry shivered, blushing slightly, and nodded.

"I'm still yours, Draco, I promise. I'll always like you more than anyone else."

"Good," Draco muttered before kissing him forcefully. "And you'd better be right about nothing happening because of Diggory."

Harry nodded again, positive that nothing more would happen between himself and Cedric, though he couldn't say why he was so sure. He thought he might like being Cedric's boyfriend for a little while, just to make sure he wasn't choosing Draco out of familiarity. Plus, Cedric was always kind and calm with him, not like Draco at all. Yet he felt without a doubt that he wouldn't have the chance.

"Hey, what did Sirius want to talk to you about?" Harry asked, eager to change subjects.

"You," Draco answered simply as he started leaning Harry in a dance again. "He noticed us snogging earlier and wanted to know if we were really serious."

Harry frowned slightly. "He said before that he'd accepted us."

"Don't you remember exactly what he said, though? 'It's natural to experiment while you're growing up,' like he thought this was just a phase."

"I hope you told him we are serious."

"Of course I did," Draco answered, rolling his eyes. "And I think he already knew, probably from the moment he saw us the first time; he just didn't want to accept it. I have a feeling he was hoping it wouldn't last for more than a month, but seeing us today dashed those hopes."

"I should hope so. _I_'m certainly not going to end this anytime soon."

"I know, Harry. And he apologized for thinking that we might not be serious."

"Good." Harry watched Draco for a moment before adding, "That's not all, though, is it?"

"No. He said that I'm doing really well in my Animagus studies. He said–" Draco gained a breathtaking smile– "that if I work really hard, I could have an Animagus form by the end of next year!"

"That's great, Draco!" Harry said with a grin, truly happy for Draco. This was really important to him after all.

"Isn't it? And we've narrowed down what animals I might turn into. I'm so excited!"

"Me too, I can wait to see what you end up as." Harry suddenly grinned cheekily. "I think you make a very handsome ferret myself."

"I won't be a ferret!"

Harry laughed softly and pecked Draco on the cheek. "No, of course not."

* * *

Harry stared blankly at the sack of Galleons on his bedside table, wishing it would disappear. He didn't need it, didn't want it, didn't _deserve_ it. He had let Cedric die. The older boy had been one of the two most important people in his life, and now he was gone. Because of Harry. 

"_...if Draco hadn't asked you out when he did, I would have."_

He sensed Hermione glance over when he sniffed and quickly got his emotions in check. He didn't want anyone to see him cry; they wouldn't understand why he was so devastated; they didn't know what he and Cedric had confessed to each other mere weeks ago.

"_I've fallen in love with you, Harry."_

And now he was dead. Because of Harry. Because he'd asked Cedric to take the Cup with him. Because he'd wanted something between himself and Cedric before the end of the year. Because he'd wanted Cedric to keep the glory that he'd work so hard for and was prepared to throw away.

"_You're so caring, and smart, and attractive, and _perfect_."_

He didn't look up when the door of the hospital wing opened and closed, figuring it was Madam Pomfrey or another hurt student. Or perhaps it was a visitor, and he didn't want any visitors. Really, he didn't want Ron, Hermione, or Mrs Weasley there, but he didn't have the heart to ask them to leave. At least, he didn't look until Ron suddenly jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over in his haste.

"What do _you_ want?"

When Harry looked over, he fully expected to see Draco, though in the state he was in, he wasn't sure if he really cared. He did not expect to see Angelo standing just inside the door like some angel of death some to take him away. Of course, as it was a Saturday, he wasn't wearing his robes, but it didn't take an idiot to see that he was a Slytherin. In fact, Harry couldn't remember a time when Angelo had looked more Slytherin. It was no wonder that Ron had immediately pegged him as one.

"**You are hungry**," he said to Harry's three guests. "**You want to go down to the Great Hall for lunch. You will return in an hour. You will not remember this or those waiting outside.**"

To Harry's amazement, his guests stood and left in very zombie-like fashion. Harry looked back to Angelo, about to ask him what was going on, but Madam Pomfrey chose that moment to bustle out of her office.

"I thought I heard–oh! Angelo!" She seemed rather surprised to see him. "Why are you here? Your next session isn't until–oh! And Aaron? But you're done for the year."

Harry frowned in confusion as Aaron stepped inside behind Angelo, followed by the rest of the SG. Done with what? What 'session'?

"Actually, Madam Pomfrey, we are here to visit Harry," Angelo answered with a disarming smile. Madam Pomfrey suddenly seemed rather flustered.

"Well, all right, but no more than six people at a time, and don't force him to talk if he doesn't want to."

"Yes, Madam."

Very shortly, Blaise, Seamus, and Lee left to wait in the hall while Madam Pomfrey retreated to her office, and the others crossed the room to Harry's bed. Draco got there first and immediately sat on the bed next to Harry while the twins took Ron and Hermione's abandoned seats (after righting Ron's), Angelo took Mrs Weasley's, and Kiran and Aaron stood next him. Harry was staring at all of them in awe.

"Why are you all here?" he asked softly. Draco rolled his eyes, which Harry saw now were slightly red.

"Do you have any idea how much you scared us the other night, Harry?" he demanded, grabbing Harry's closest hand. "How much you scared _me_?"

"This is the soonest we could visit you," Angelo added softly. "The Headmaster did not wish for us to come earlier."

"I...think you," Harry murmured. It meant quite a lot for them to visit him like this, though he was a bit wierded out that Dumbledore knew so much about his secret life.

"Will you tell us what happened?" Draco asked, his grip on Harry's hand almost painfully tight.

"Draco!" someone admonished; Harry was astonished to see that it was Kiran. "Madam Pomfrey said not to push him."

But Harry was glad Draco had asked. He did want to tell them, wanted for them, more than Ron and Hermione, to know what had happened. After all, they had known Cedric better, perhaps, than anyone else, and he was sure they would understand exactly why he was so distraught. But he never would have been able to bring up the topic on his own. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, giving Draco a thankful smile when the blond helped.

"Where do you want me to start?" he asked softly, looking at Draco alone, though he was speaking to all of them.

"The moment you entered the maze," Draco said, giving Harry's hand a comforting squeeze. "We didn't see anything after that."

Harry nodded and began talking, describing everything that had happened from the moment he'd stepped into the maze with Cedric. The memories of that night weren't as clear as when he'd relived them for Dumbledore, but they hurt twice as much. His voice cracked when he told about Cedric being hit by the Cruciatus, but he didn't stop. The same thing happened when he got to his argument with Cedric over who would take the Cup. Then, as he told about how Cedric had been murdered, he found he couldn't go on. His throat closed up and the tears he'd been forcing back for two days formed in his eyes again.

Without a word, Draco pulled Harry into his arms and that was all it took for him to lose control. He sobbed into Draco's shoulder, clutching at the other boy's robes like a lifeline, one that he prayed could pull him out of this nightmare.

"_...maybe over the summer you could think about it and decide who you like more?"_

Why hadn't he done something? Anything? Why hadn't he tried to save Cedric? He'd just let Cedric _die_. Surely he couldn't done _something_? What kind of person let someone he loved just die like that? He was sure that he was babbling some of this aloud, but Draco didn't seem to care. The blond continued to hold him and rubbed comforting circles on his back and murmured soft reassurances in his ear until he'd calmed enough to pull away.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling as though he'd betrayed Draco for feeling so much for Cedric. Draco obviously didn't think so as he shook his head and gave Harry a tentative smile.

"Don't be. I know how much he meant to you."

Which just started Harry on a fresh wave of tears; he'd expected Draco to act jealous again and not supportive.

After what seemed to be an hour, he finally regained control of himself and began his narrative again, hardly pausing except to sniff. Then Angelo stood abruptly at the same part Sirius had: when Harry told about Wormtail piercing his arm with his dagger. He grabbed Harry's arm and pushed up his sleeve to reveal a pale thin scar where the cut had been.

"Madam Pomfrey healed it while I was asleep," Harry said at Angelo's questioning look. "But it didn't heal perfectly. Madam Pomfrey thinks that the blade Wormtail used was laced with Dark Magic."

Angelo had turned so pale he looked sickly and rather upset, not at all like how Dumbledore had reacted. "I...I see...this is quite bad."

"Well, yes, we know that," Draco said dryly, though he was staring down at the scar with undisguised disgust.

"What's so bad about it?" Harry asked uncertainly. "Besides the fact that it happened, of course."

Angelo looked pained for a moment before he turned away, shaking his head. Kiran scowled slightly at him.

"You're blood-bonded to Voldemort now," he told Harry bluntly. "Rather like how Angelo is to you. Of course, there's a difference since you didn't give it willingly, and he may not even realize what he's done, but that's unlikely and he'll probably try to exploit this bond however he can."

Angelo sent the tall blond a heated glare, though he was placated when Kiran placed a light hand on his shoulder. "Please continue, Harry," Angelo murmured finally.

Though Harry was horrified by this development, he nodded and began speaking again. Draco flinched when his father's name was mentioned as being a Death Eater, and his hold on Harry tightened reflexively when he reached his duel with Voldemort. But soon, Harry again found himself unable to continue, just as he had that night, when he began describing the Priori Incantatem effect between his and Voldemort's wands. It seemed like such a private thing, but so had everything else so far.

"Why'd your wands connect?" Fred asked at last.

"Or wands share cores," Harry murmured after a moment. "The feathers in our wands came from the same phoenix. Professor Dumbledore said that if two wands like that are forced to duel, they won't work properly against each other. One wand will force the other to show the spells it's performed in reverse order."

"So...what?" Draco asked, looking rather confused.

Harry sighed and began again, though he was speaking so softly that they all had to strain to hear him. His voice shook a couple times, but he didn't stop, even once his narrative was back at Hogwarts. He explained about Crouch Jr, skipped over his talk with Dumbledore, and finished with Fudge's response to what had happened. When he finally ended, there was absolute silence.

"So, Fudge won't believe You-Know-Who's back?" George said thoughtfully after quite a while. "That's going to cause a few problems, I bet."

"Yeah, Professor Dumbledore seemed to think so."

"The Ministry is not going to take this very well," Angelo murmured; he was actually shaking and Kiran had dropped to his knees to offer support. "They are going to question everything the Headmaster does."

"But it's obvious now why this entire event has been hidden from us," Kiran commented, still watching Angelo closely. "Voldemort was reported to be extremely good–"

"Not good enough, though," Aaron interrupted with a frown. "We were able to See that it involved Harry getting hurt and that nothing worse has happened for the last 13 years."

"But to not be able to See any more than that? That's almost frightening."

Harry wasn't paying attention to this, however; he was staring at Aaron with wide eyes. "Wait, Aaron, you're a shaman, right?"

Aaron suddenly looked rather uncomfortable. "Yes."

"That means you can talk to Cedric, right?" Harry asked hopefully. "Even though he's dead, you could talk to him?"

Aaron sighed and slowly shook his head, looking as though he'd rather not answer at all. "I'm sorry, Harry."

Harry stared at him in disbelief. Surely...? "Why?"

"Cedric is inaccessible to me right now," Aaron answered softly. "You see, when someone dies, their soul goes through a limbo period. This is when it decides either to come back as a ghost or to go on. For some souls, like Myrtle or Professor Binns, this period can be less than a second. For others, it can take months or years. While in this state, dead souls are completely cut off from anything that could be a distraction."

"And Cedric in this limbo right now?" Harry asked, starting to feel more depressed than before.

"Yes, and he may be there for quite a while. Cedric had a wonderful life, but he left a lot behind. It's going to be a hard decision for him." Aaron shook his head with a sigh. "I'm really sorry, Harry; I'd help you if I could."

"Cedric knows Aaron's a shaman, Harry," Draco murmured, hugging Harry close again. "I bet the first thing he'll do once he's decided is contact Aaron."

Harry nodded, suddenly filled with gratitude for his boyfriend, and suddenly wishing everyone else would leave so he could express it. He had no idea why Draco was suddenly being so supportive, but it meant the world to him.

"What the–Zabini! What are you doing here?"

They all looked around in alarm as Ron's voice drifted through the closed door. Draco cursed softly when Angelo was scowling at his watch.

"They are back early. I must be losing my touch." Angelo sighed and stood, pulling Kiran up with him, while the twins left to stall their family and Hermione.

"This is the last we will see of each other this year," Angelo said softly as he leaned over to briefly press his lips to Harry's forehead. "Keep yourself safe, and you must write us over the summer."

Harry blinked owlishly up at him. "I thought you couldn't–"

"I think that Kiran will overlook that this one time," Angelo answered with an amused smirk. Indeed, Kiran was looking determinedly away from them.

"Oh. Okay, I'll write, but you have to write me back. And keep me updated on anything you can find out about Voldemort's plans."

"Of course." Angelo gave him a small bow and left to join the twins.

"Always remember, we're here to serve you if you choose to call on us," Kiran said with his own bow. "Do keep out of trouble."

He paused about halfway to the door and turned back to Harry with an expression that Harry didn't think he'd ever since on his face before: something akin to sympathy and sadness. "I am truly sorry for what has happened, not only for the injustice of it but also for you. Any time you feel you need someone to talk to, I'll be there."

"I–thanks, Kiran," Harry said, amazed.

Kiran smirked faintly as he turned away again. "I still don't like you."

Both Harry and Draco snorted at that; they both had the feeling the Kiran only said that to keep up appearances.

"Harry," Aaron spoke as soon as the door had closed again, "as soon as I'm able to contact Cedric, I'll let you know. I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about."

"Thank you," Harry said with a pained smile. Then he frowned slightly and added, "I've just remembered; you're leaving this year, aren't you? What are you going to do?"

"I was thinking of getting a job at the Ministry," Aaron answered, smiling faintly, "in the Department of Mysteries, perhaps. Or I may just be a stay-at-home spouse while Oliver does his Quidditch thing. But I'll make sure to visit, like at Christmas or Draco's birthday."

"Okay. Good luck, then. And I'll make sure to write you too."

Aaron nodded with a smile and waved as he left.

Harry suddenly felt rather self-conscious; he was actually alone with Draco for the first time in months and so much had change since then. He wasn't sure what to do, or what Draco might do. He would like to know why Draco wasn't throwing a fit at the moment, though.

"Draco," he murmured, not daring to look at the other boy. "I'm sorry–"

"For what?" Draco asked viciously; Harry was startled. "For being upset that someone died?"

"No, for being so upset that _Cedric_ died. You were fighting over me, and–"

"And you loved him," Draco finished for him. "You may not call it that, but you loved him. And I love you, so I have to accept that I may not always be the only one in your life. You heart's too bloody big."

"But you were so mad about it before–"

"Do you think I'm not now? Merlin, Harry, you have no idea how irate and upset I am right now. But I've had a couple weeks to think about it, and I realized that if I really wanted you to be happy, I should accept that you might end up with someone else. Not that I won't try my damnedest to be your one and only, of course. And right now, what you need is a supportive boyfriend, anyway, not a jealous one."

Harry stared at him in awe for a moment before he suddenly gave Draco a deep kiss. "Draco, I love you!"

"I know, but try not to shout it," Draco said with a laugh, though a faint blush formed on his cheeks as well, just before he initiated his own kiss. "I'm going to try to visit you this summer, okay?"

"Really?"

"Really."

Harry gave him a huge grin. "Did I mention that I love you?"

"Yes, you did." Draco kissed him one last time before prying himself out of Harry's arms. "I have to go now, though. "I'll see you, Harry."

"Oh, Draco, wait!" Harry grabbed one of Draco wrists to keep him from leaving. "I need to show you something."

Draco sat back down on the bed with a confused frown. "What is it?"

Harry uncovered his right wrist. "I discovered this yesterday during lunch. _Please show yourself._"

Draco just grew more confused as only one snake in the silver bracelet appeared. "Why is there only one?"

"Senka–that's her name–told me that Lucian–the other one–went to Voldemort Thursday night," Harry answered absently stroking the silver snake.

"Why?" Draco asked, alarmed.

"Apparently, while I was being tortured, I ordered one of them to attack Voldemort." Harry shrugged slightly. "I don't remember that at all, but I guess it's possible, although that would mean Voldemort knows about it. They decided it should be Lucian that would obey and he left me to go to Voldemort."

Draco paled slightly but shook his head. "Lucian means 'light', so he won't be tempted to follow Voldemort, I guess. I don't know what he'd do to hurt him, though."

"I don't know either. But I thought you might like to know that they're doing their job, since you're the one who gave them to me."

"Yeah," Draco murmured, obviously quite distracted by something. A moment later, however, he smiled at Harry and stood again. "I really do have to go now. Sorry. I'll see you during the summer, okay?"

"Okay. Bye, Draco."

Draco gave him a breathtaking smile just before he opened the door to leave, letting Angelo's rich tenor drift in.

"**You will remember none of this. You will go in now and act normal. You will not question Harry unless he offers information.**"

Harry hurriedly ordered Senka to make herself invisible again just as Ron, Hermione, and Mrs Weasley wandered in, all looking rather dazed.

"Hey, Harry," Ron greeted as he sat in his chair. "I thought I had something to tell you, but now I can't remember what it was."

"It probably wasn't that important," Harry commented, inwardly marvelling at Angelo's power.

"Yeah, I guess not. Hey, have you had lunch yet?"

When Harry shook his head no, Ron immediately shot to his feet and marched over to Madam Pomfrey's office to request food for him. Harry smiled sadly; even in dark times like these, some things never changed.

END OF PART TWO


	10. Interlude II: New Allies, New Exchanges

Background Secrets

Interlude II: New Allies, New Exchanges

_July 8, 1995_

_Dear Harry,_

How have you been? I hope the Muggles are treating you well. If not, you could always tell them that you have several friends who are of age who would like nothing more than to hex them inside-out. Or perhaps not; they may not take that seriously; they seem rather stupid.

Kiran has been visiting for the last few days. Mother likes him quite well, even with our situation. I was afraid that she would forbid him from visiting again, but she actually invited him to stay longer than he'd planned. We have enjoyed our time together, mostly by flying about the grounds. Neither of us are allowed to at school.

I have been unable to discover anything about Voldemort. He seems to be blocking his mind from the world extremely well. I will continue to search.

_Sincerely,_

_Angelo Eros Haemon

* * *

_

_July 9, 1995_

_Dear Angelo,_

I'm afraid you won't get the chance to hex my relatives; they've been treating me just fine. Well, they haven't been letting me watch the news in peace, since they think I must be up to something, but I've gotten around that.

My cousin, Dudley, became the Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion last June, and everyone's been fawning over him, especially my uncle. I don't know what all the fuss is about; it was almost guaranteed that he'd win once he'd entered. He's so fat that he wouldn't be able to feel any blows that hit him. And I can't see why it's so great that he can punch harder and more accurately, but my relatives have never been able to see what a bully he is. He's afraid of me, though, so I have nothing to worry about.

Why aren't you allowed to fly at school? I thought anyone was allowed to fly. I don't know what I'd do if I was banned from flying.

Find out whatever you can. I've been watching the Muggle news and getting the Daily Prophet, but neither have shown anything yet. I'd appreciate anything you can tell me.

_Harry

* * *

_

_July 12, 1995_

_Dear Ahren,_

Sorry I haven't written; I've been pretty busy, though not as much as last summer. Father's been off doing various things, so I've had a bit more free time, and I don't have as many letters to write. The projects I'm doing are still pretty involved though.

How have you been? Have your relatives given you any problems this summer?

I've been making plans to visit Merak this summer. You wouldn't believe how hard that's been! My parents don't really know about him, so I have to go about everything secretly. A few of my friends have been helping me set everything up, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to wait for a while before everything's perfect and I can get away with it. At least I only have my mother to contend with and not Father as well.

My furry project has been progressing really well. I've been having a lot of help with it, and I'm way ahead of the standard schedule. I can't wait until I'm done!

You have to tell me every thing that's been going on with you! I haven't heard from you since school let out and it's killing me!

_Rast

* * *

_

_July 13, 1995_

_Dear Rast,_

It's all right; I've been pretty busy myself. I'm glad to hear you're not working yourself to death like last summer.

How have I been? Pretty good, though I wish I didn't have to keep coming back to my relatives every single summer. I'm wishing the news, both Muggle and wizard, would be a bit more detailed every now and then. I wish my relatives would stop looking at me funny when I try to watch the news with them. I've been wishing for a lot of things lately, actually.

I have another Dudley story, though this one isn't as funny as the others. Dudley became the Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion last June, meaning that he's being taught how to punch harder and more accurately, and his diet's been reduced a bit. Everyone (meaning my aunt and uncle) is really proud of him and thinks he's a hero. Everyone else thinks he's a terror (and he is). He's scared of me, though, so he hasn't touched me since I got home.

Merak's lucky to have a friend like you! I have a friend who wants to visit me, too, but I just found out yesterday that he's encountering problems and won't be able to come as soon as he wanted. I think I can wait, though; it'll be great to see him again, no matter when it is.

It's great to hear that your project's going so well. I can't wait to hear about it once you're done! And keep me updated on all your progress, too!

There is something that happened to me at the end of school last year that I think I need to talk to someone about, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I don't really want to tell just _anyone_. I do trust you, but it's really private.

Other than that, I've been doing pretty well. Hope to hear from you soon.

_Ahren

* * *

_

On the back of a letter from 'Rast':

_July 14, 1995_

_Harry,_

I have to be brief; I think Father may be checking my mail, and I've only got a short opportunity to get this to you.

Write me a letter over the scrolls. We don't have to have a conversation; you can just write a letter. I want to know what's really going on with you. That last bit of your last letter really worried me. The scrolls are the only way I can think of that we can talk without being spied on.

You'd better write immediately, or I'll pester you with Howlers.

_Draco

* * *

_

On the IM Scrolls:

_July 15, 1995_

_Draco,_

I'm sorry, I couldn't think of another way to tell you that. I didn't think you'd be watching your scroll.

I needed to tell you that I've been having nightmares, usually one or two a night, though this last week I've only had them every other day. I've been having them since we left school. I don't want to have these nightmares anymore; they're really wearing me down.

Most of the nightmares have been about that night in the graveyard. I have to see Cedric dying over and over again, and I can't do anything to help him. Some of those dreams have had you in them too, and I had to watch you die while I couldn't do anything to help. A few have had all three of us dying, or just me and Cedric while you had to watch. All of them have had Voldemort's horrible laugh that he does right before he's going to kill someone he hates.

A few times I've had a dream about a corridor with a door at the end that won't open, but I have no idea what that's all about.

I really hate having these dreams, Draco. I wish they'd just go away. They make me feel so guilty about what happened, like I should have been able to help Cedric, that I _won't_ be able to help you if you ever need it. I don't know what to do. I can't get rid of them.

I knew you'd want to know about this, but I really wanted to tell you too. I needed someone to confide in. I want them to stop, Draco.

_Harry

* * *

_

_July 15, 1995_

_Dear Angelo and Kiran,_

Harry wrote to me today with some rather disturbing news. It seems that since the end of June, he's been having nightmares about what happened in the graveyard with Cedric, myself, and himself dying in them. I think it may be shock and guilt about what happened that's causing them, but it could be something else, such as Voldemort giving him these dreams. Obviously, we don't want that to be the case.

Could you help me figure out a way to get rid of these dreams? Could you also see whether Voldemort is causing them? Do either of you know any way to make dreams like this stop without some potion?

Thanks very much for helping.

_Draco

* * *

_

On the IM Scrolls:

_July 15, 1995_

_Harry,_

I am glad you told me about these dreams. I'll look into a way to make them stop. I don't want you to suffer anymore.

Please don't dwell on them. I promise that if I were ever in trouble like that, you'd have a chance to save me. You didn't have that chance with Cedric, so that wasn't your fault. Don't beat yourself up over it.

I love you.

_Draco

* * *

_

_July 16, 1995_

_Dear Aaron,_

I remember you said once that if ever I was in need of your assistance, I could call on you. I am in need of it.

Our lord has been experiencing some disturbing nightmares about his experience with Voldemort in June. Naturally, this is distressing simply in and of itself. However, Draco feels that Voldemort himself may be giving Harry these dreams, which, of course, is extremely unsettling. Kiran and I have been asked to look into it, and I should like you to help.

From what I know and what Mother has told me, these are merely normal dreams caused by the shock of what happened and guilt that it may happen again. I myself sense that this is the case. However, I would like your opinion on it; you are more powerful than I in these matters.

I await your response, my dear friend,

_Angelo Eros Haemon

* * *

_

_July 16, 1995_

_Dear Harry,_

I am sorry to hear that you have been having nightmares. I am also sorry to find out about it from another source.

Kiran and I are looking into what could be causing them and what to do about them. We are trying to find non-magical methods, out of respect for your relatives. Aaron is researching a few magical ones that he could activate himself.

I hope that we can find something for you soon.

_Sincerely,_

_Angelo Eros Haemon

* * *

_

_July 17, 1995_

_Potter,_

I would like to renew my promise of being here to listen if you need to talk. In fact, I would like it if you'd tell me about these nightmares I hear you've been having. I think it would be good for you, and it would help us to get rid of them.

_Kiran Azriel Erebos

* * *

_

_July 17, 1995_

_Dear Angelo,_

You'd better not let Harry ever here you call him that. He'd hate it.

I'm afraid this isn't a problem caused by Voldemort. I've managed to find the link between them, and Voldemort hasn't been activating it so frequently. I'm not sure what he's been doing, but I don't think he's giving Harry these dreams.

I don't have any way for Harry to get rid of these dreams except to ride them out. They'll go away eventually once he's fully accepted that Cedric is gone and no longer feels guilty about it. I'm afraid that may take some time.

By the way, are you coming to Oliver's match next week? He's been wondering.

_Aaron

* * *

_

_July 17, 1995_

_Dear Harry,_

I was recently informed of your nightmares. I'm sorry to say that I don't think they're being caused by Voldemort, so there's nothing we can do to stop them. They'll have to stop on their own.

I'm sorry I can't help you. I think Draco will be able to help you the best.

_Aaron

* * *

_

On the IM Scrolls:

_July 18, 1995_

_Draco,_

Did you tell the others about my nightmares? I didn't want them to know.

Thank you for trying to help me, though. I really appreciate that.

I just feel so guilty about what happened, like I should have been able to do something. I could still move, sort of, and I still had my wand. I could have helped him, and I didn't.

I'm so afraid that I might do the same thing if you're ever in danger. I don't think I'd be able to live if that ever happened. I wouldn't be able to live, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

When can you visit? I want to talk to you in person, not through letters like this.

I love you too.

_Harry

* * *

_

_July 18, 1995_

_Dear Aaron, Angelo, and Kiran,_

I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my nightmares myself. I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to do anything, or wouldn't care, or would think I was loosing it. I'll tell you everything like that in the future.

Thank you for everything you were about to find out. It's good to know that Voldemort isn't causing these nightmares.

Thank you also for looking into what Voldemort's been doing. I know you haven't found anything yet, but I really appreciate what you've been doing.

I'll try to be more straight with you guys in the future. I know it probably seemed like I don't trust you, but I do, more than I ever thought I would, in fact.

_Harry

* * *

_

On the IM Scrolls:

_August 7, 1995_

_Draco,_

You'll never guess where I'm writing from! I'm at Sirius's house! I got rescued last night from my aunt and uncle's by a few of Dumbledore's friends. Can you believe that the Weasleys and Hermione have been here all summer and they never told me? Even the twins never said anything about it!

By the way, how come you never mentioned that you're related to Sirius? He has a tapestry with his family tree on it, and it was such a shock seeing your name on it!

Ron said that we shouldn't send too many letters; that's why I'm writing you here. He's asleep at the moment, but I think the twins are up to something upstairs; they're sleeping above us, so we can here almost anything that goes on up there. I think they miss Lee a lot, but they've made do. I'm glad we can't hear _everything_.

Have you gotten any letters from the twins this summer? I'd only gotten one before coming here, and it was pretty short.

I'm going to wrap this up; we worked all day to clean out the drawing room, and I'm really tired. This place is such a mess. Hermione says it's because no one lived here for years except for the mad family house-elf (and he really is mental). I don't think that's the only reason, but that seems to be most of it.

Oh, and you can't visit me while I'm here. I'm really sorry, and I really wish you could, but I can't tell you where the house is, and I doubt I'm allowed to leave for any amount of time alone. I'll see you on the train though, okay?

Could you send me a list of the colours for the Emotion Necklace? I keep watching it and I want to know what they mean. You could just copy them out of a book.

I love you.

_Harry

* * *

_

On the IM Scrolls:

_July 7, 1995_

_Dear Aaron, Angelo, and Kiran,_

I'm staying at my godfather's house now. It isn't safe to send me any real letters; all letters need to be over the scrolls.

By the way, Angelo, while we were cleaning today, I found a crystal bottle full of blood. Do you think one of the Blacks might have had someone blood-bonded to him?

_Harry

* * *

_

On the IM Scrolls:

_August 8, 1995_

_Harry,_

Sorry, it never crossed my mind to tell you that we're cousins. It didn't seem that important.

The twins have sent me a few letters, mostly asking about potions and how certain things will react to others. Why? What are they up to? They haven't said.

Why can't Sirius just get rid of the stupid house-elf if he's doing such a poor job?

You'd better be using that spell I gave you to conceal your necklace. Here are the colours:

_Silver–excitement, glee, happiness_

_Gold–romantic love_

_Red–anger, annoyance, pain_

_Pink–fondness_

_Orange–exhaustion_

_Yellow–sexual love, attraction_

_Green–envy_

_Blue–contentment, calm_

_Indigo–sorrow, remorse_

_Violet–protectiveness_

_Brown–sickness, disgust_

_Black–fear/terror, anguish_

You owe me now. It was traumatizingly embarrassing to write all that. I expect something when we get back to school.

I love you.

_Draco

* * *

_

On the IM Scrolls:

_August 9, 1995_

_Harry,_

The blood probably is from a blood-bond. You should find out who it belonged to; their family may still be indebted to the Blacks, and a bond like that could be extremely useful. Good luck in your hearing on Thursday.

_Angelo Eros Haemon

* * *

_

On the IM Scrolls:

_August 12, 1995_

_Dear Draco, Aaron, Angelo, and Kiran,_

I don't know if you know yet, but I was cleared of all charges during my hearing today! Even the warning I got back in second year when Dobby used a Hover Charm in my house! I've got a clean slate now!

Fudge didn't seem too happy about it, though. Neither did a few of the other Ministry officials, including Percy Weasley. He's working for the Minister now, did you know? He and the other Weasleys have had a huge row about it. He didn't seem to happy to see me today.

Anyway, I wanted you guys to know that I'm not in trouble with the Ministry anymore (well, not any more than I can help) and that I'm definitely coming back to Hogwarts this year.

I can't wait to see you guys!

_Harry_

_

* * *

_

AN: The colour list isn't important now, but it will be. So remember it!


	11. Part III Ch IX Angelo's Secret

Background Secrets

Part III: Fifth Year

Chapter IX: Angelo's Secret

Harry sighed as he jumped the park gate and headed toward the broken swing set like he had almost every night of the summer. He'd been sure that today, his birthday, Voldemort would attack something or cause some other trouble, but the news had been uneventful. No odd shapes in the sky, no strange disappearances, no unexplainable murders. Nothing in the Daily Prophet or on the Muggle evening news. Nothing from his friends, secret or otherwise.

He sank into the one unbroken swing and stared moodily at the ground. He was sure why he was so upset; he should be _happy_ that Voldemort had yet to make a move. But it was unnerving that nothing had happened when Voldemort hadn't had any qualms about killing whoever he liked before he'd actually been resurrected.

He did know that he wasn't just upset about the silence. He was also furious with Ron and Hermione; so furious, in fact, that when he'd received their presents of Honeydukes chocolate that morning, he'd thrown them out without a second thought. He regretted it now, as they'd only had a wilted salad for dinner and he was rather hungry, but he wasn't about to let go of his pride and dig through the trash for chocolate. His other friends' letters, and presents, had been much more satisfactory, but they still didn't know much about what was going on. At least they told him that directly rather that skirt around the issue.

He'd been so lost in thought that he nearly fell out of his swing when a loud resounding _crack_ cut through the peaceful night. He leapt to his feet, drew out his wand as he turned around, and then nearly dropped it in shock. Standing in the middle of the Muggle play park were Draco Malfoy and Aaron Eaglesight.

"That excited to see us, are you?" Draco said with a pointed glance at Harry's wand. Harry hurriedly stuffed the wand back in his belt.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked numbly, sure that he was seeing things. Aaron and Draco were here in Little Winging?

Aaron sent Draco an amused glance. "I guess he _is_ that excited to see us."

Draco wasn't smiling, however. "You prat, I told you I was going to visit you. Did you forget?"

Harry blinked and immediately felt ashamed. "Of course I didn't forget. I'm sorry; I was just really surprised to see you."

"Naturally, it's to be expected when you haven't seen me in a month," Draco said with a faint smirk, absently flicking his hair out of his eyes. "Though I am a bit disappointed you didn't come running into my arms as soon as you saw me."

Harry raised an eyebrow as he headed over to them. "I'm not a girl, Draco."

"I know, and thank Merlin you're not. I would be able to tolerate some giddy girl."

Harry laughed and hugged Draco as soon as he was close enough. "You have no idea how great it is to see you. I thought the first time I'd see another wizard would be at King's Cross in September. And it's great to see you too, Aaron," he added sheepishly. Aaron just smiled and shook his head, gesturing for him to pay attention to Draco.

"I missed you, too," Draco said as he gently pried Harry off, "but I want to give you your present now."

Harry frowned in confusion. "You already sent me something."

Draco shook his head. "That was just the card. I wanted to give you your real present in person."

"Oh, all right."

"Close you eyes."

Harry sent him a sceptic look but did as he was told. He felt Draco reach behind his head and weight settled on his chest. He resisted the urge to reach up and touch it or to look. What was it with Draco and giving him jewellery?

"Okay, you can look now."

Harry immediately opened his eyes and reached up to move the pendant to where he could see it. Hanging from a fine silver chain was a thin disk of what seemed to be coloured glass, only at the moment the colours were swirling silver and pink.

"What is it?" Harry asked, turning the disk over in his fingers. "And I'm really not a girl, you know."

Draco rolled his eyes, though he was looking serious again. "It's not just for girls. It's an Emotion Necklace, a traditional pure-blood gift to someone being courted."

Harry stared at him with a light blush, completely startled. He was being courted? Courtship usually ended in marriage, didn't it? "I still don't get it..."

"Basically, it shows you my emotions as colours as I'm feeling them. It's supposed to symbolize that I trust you enough for you to know how I'm feeling all the time. It isn't something I can take back."

Harry was awed. Draco trusted him that much? Even after everything that had happened in the last couple of months? Personally, he didn't feel he deserved something like this; he hadn't been a very trustworthy boyfriend. It meant a lot that Draco felt he had been.

Without a word, Harry tugged Draco closed again, into a deep kiss.

"Thank you," he murmured when he finally let go. "I won't let anything happen too it."

"I know; I trust you."

"But how am I supposed to know what the colours mean?"

Draco suddenly seemed embarrassed. "Well, normally, you'd already know, since this is usually only given to purebloods or half-bloods raised that way. It's probably in a book at school. I can't remember off the top of my head."

"At school..." Harry paled, horrified. "Draco, I can't wear this at school! Ron's a pureblood; if he sees it he'll know what it is!"

"I thought of that," Draco answered with a smirk, "so I looked up a Concealment Charm for you. It's '_Abscondo_' and the reverse is '_Aparecium_' like with most Concealment Charms."

"You think of everything, don't you?" Harry said with a smile.

"Of course. I am perfect, you know."

"Sure you are." Harry gave him another kiss before he asked softly, "How long can you stay?"

"Not long," Draco answered with a sigh. "Mother thinks I'm visiting Blaise right now, but I still have to get back at a reasonable hour. And Aaron has a present for you too."

Harry blinked and looked over Aaron; he'd completely forgotten the man was there. But before he could say anything, Draco tugged on his sleeve and pointed over his shoulder. "What are those?"

Harry smiled and led Draco back over to the swings, explaining what they were for and how they worked. He waited to make sure that Draco understood and to see the look of glee on the blond's face when he started swinging. Then he headed back over to Aaron with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry I forgot about you. Did Draco coerce you into Apparating him here?" Harry asked with a laugh. Aaron smiled faintly as he shook his head.

"No, I was going to come anyway. Cedric wants to talk to you."

Harry started and stared at him with wide eyes. "You can contact him now?"

Aaron nodded. "He contacted me three days ago. Draco was right; it was the first thing he did. I didn't tell you then because I thought it would make a better birthday present."

"From the way you made it sound, I thought it would be years before he was ready."

"Yes, that's what I thought too." Aaron shrugged slightly. "Would you like to talk to him?"

Harry looked at him like he was crazy. "You have to ask?"

"Fair point," Aaron said with a laugh. "I'm going to channel him for you. It'll be like he's possessing me, so you can talk to him directly."

"Okay." Harry was rather relieved by this, as well as nervous. It would be less awkward to speak with Cedric directly, but there was also a lot that could happen that way.

Aaron's eyes closed and he went completely still. He remained this way for several minutes, and then his eyes suddenly opened and he gave Harry a sad smile.

"Hey, Harry."

Harry wasn't sure what possessed him at that moment–after all, Aaron still looked and sounded like himself–but that expression was Cedric's, and before he knew it, he was in tears again for the first time in a month and had collapsed into Cedric's arms. Cedric let him cry for a few minutes; then he gently pushed Harry back so he could look down at the brunet.

"I don't blame you, Harry. There was nothing you could have done."

"I made you take the Cup with me," Harry murmured, hastily wiping the moisture off his cheeks. "If I hadn't been so stubborn, you never would have been in danger."

"Or I might have taken it by myself and would have died anyway with no one the wiser."

"But–"

"Harry, if I really blamed you, I would have come back as a vengeful ghost intent of haunting you for the rest of your life."

Harry laughed in spite of himself and gave Cedric a weak smile. "I can't see you ever doing that."

"Exactly," Cedric said with a much larger smile. "I don't blame you, Harry. I blame You-Know-Who; he's the one that killed me."

"He's back," Harry said, feeling rather guilty about that as well. "He came back that night."

"I know; Aaron told me everything. But now you can get revenge on him for me. That'd be a lot harder to do if he were still a spirit."

Harry winced and looked away. "I'd rather never meet him again."

Cedric sighed. "Believe me, so would I. But we both know that's not going to happen. He's going to come after you no matter what."

Harry nodded and was silent for a moment, but when he opened his mouth to speak again, Cedric held up a hand to stop him.

"If you apologize again, I'm going to jinx you."

"I wasn't," Harry said with a soft laugh. "I was going to ask you why you didn't become a ghost. Aaron said you left a lot behind."

"I did. You and Cho, and my parents and friends." Cedric turned thoughtful and it was a good minute before he spoke again. "I suppose part of it was that I didn't want that existence. Living forever, but not being able to touch anyone or anything and outliving everyone you ever knew or loved? It didn't sound like much fun.

"But also, while I was deciding, I sorted out a few things. I really did have a great life, but what I left behind will take care of itself. You've got Draco and Aaron and the others, and I'm sure you'll kill You-Know-Who someday. Cho has you and her friends and family. My parents still have my sister; Aaron has Oliver; my other friends have each other.

"In the end, I realized that even though everyone is really upset that I died, the world won't stop turning because of it. I'm not essential, and I never really was. That's why I was able to go on and not become a ghost."

Harry stared at him in shock, trying to take all that in. Then he glared up at the older boy, suddenly furious. "What do you mean you're not 'essential'? Of course you are!"

Cedric shook his head with a sad smile. "I'm not. I don't expect you to understand; it's just one of those things you learn when you die."

"I'd like to understand," Harry said acidly.

Cedric sighed and looked thoughtful again. "All right, think about it this way. What would happen if you died? A lot of other people would die, either because of You-Know-Who or by suicide. It'd be the same for Dumbledore or even Draco. Nothing like that has happened because of me. Do you understand?"

"No," Harry answered sulkily. "You're important to me! I've been having nightmares since you died!"

Cedric seemed rather concerned by this. "I'm really sorry, Harry. I'd help you if I could. But I think this may be something you can only understand once you're dead."

Harry winded and looked away again. "I've thought about you a lot since then, like I promised."

"You don't have to say anything," Cedric said, shaking Aaron's head.

"No, I need to, or I'll keep thinking about it and I'd really like to just forget that this happened."

Cedric sighed and regarded him sadly. "All right."

Harry took in a deep breath. "I've thought about it a lot–a lot more than I wanted to, actually, 'cause it hurts to think about you–and I've sorted out most of my feelings, for now, at least. I'm really sorry, but I love Draco more than you. He's always been there, either as my enemy or my friend, and I can't help but feel closer to him." Then he blushed as he added, "But I think that if you'd asked me out first, I would have accepted."

Cedric nodded, hardly looking surprised. "I thought as much. I sorted out my feelings too, while I was in limbo, and I love Cho more, so I'm not too upset. But I think it would have worked between us, if things had gone differently and we'd had more time."

"Yeah." Harry gave him a very faint smile. "So, this is how it ends, I guess."

"I guess so. It's too bad; it was kind of fun making Draco jealous. I'm kidding," Cedric added hurriedly at Harry's fierce glare. "Did you get the prize money?"

"Yeah, but I gave it to the twins to help with their joke shop."

"You didn't keep it?" Cedric asked in surprise.

"I didn't want it," Harry answered with a pained expression. "Not after you died. I would have made you take it all in the first place anyway."

"Well, I can't wait to see what they come up with then." Cedric suddenly froze as though he were listening to something only he could hear. Then he gave Harry an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry, Harry, but my time's up. I have to go now."

"Already?" Harry asked. It felt like Cedric had just gotten there and that he was loosing the older boy all over again.

"Yes. I want to stay, believe me, but it would hurt Aaron, and I'm sure you don't want that."

"No, I don't." Harry gave him a sad smile. "Goodbye, then."

"I'll be seeing you, Harry." Cedric leaned down to press a kiss to the Gryffindor's forehead. When he stood straight again, it was Aaron that was blinking down at him.

"You should spend some time with Draco before we have to leave," he murmured, showing no signs of embarrassment, as he gestured behind Harry. Draco was still sitting on the swing, but he was merely rocking back and forth on his tiptoes now, and he seemed a bit bored and depressed.

"Thank you," Harry said to Aaron, giving him a grateful smile, before he headed over to Draco. He placed a light hand on Draco's shoulder, one that didn't attempt to hinder the blond's slow rocking.

"Sorry I took so long. I hope you didn't get too bored."

"I was listening..."

Harry blinked. "To what?"

"You and Cedric. I was listening to you."

"Why?"

Draco shrugged as he stood up. "I don't know."

Harry frowned and stepped in front of Draco. "Yes, you do. Why?"

Draco was silent for quite a while before he whispered, "I was afraid."

"Of what?" Harry pressed, getting frustrated; this was like pulling teeth.

"Of loosing you!" Draco wasn't depressed anymore; rather, he looked quite angry. "You're so clueless sometimes! I don't want to lose you, and I know very well I could to that pretty boy!"

"That 'pretty boy' is dead, Draco, because of me!" Harry exclaimed, suddenly angry himself. "I'm still having nightmares about it! I still feel just as guilty as before that I'm the one standing here and not him!"

"It wasn't your fault, Harry," Draco said, looking a bit taken aback.

Harry didn't answer. He forced himself to calm down first. "Didn't you hear what I told him?"

Draco looked away with a sulky expression.

"I love you, Draco," Harry said softly with determined eyes. "Yes, love. I told you that a month ago, I've told that in my letters, and I'm telling you that now. You'll always be more important to me than anyone else. You have been ever since we met on the train in first year. It's always been about you."

"Yeah? Then what about the last bit of what you said? That you would have gone out with him if he'd asked first?"

"That was true; I would have. And I bet I would have gone back to you in a month." Harry's expression turned to a bitter smile as he added, "But he's not a threat to you now he's dead, right? That's what you were thinking before."

Draco paled and took a step toward him. "Harry, no, why would you think that?"

Harry eyed him for a moment before he sighed. "I don't know. I don't know what's going through my head half the time these days."

"That's understandable; neither do I."

"I didn't mean to yell at you."

"Me neither, and I know why you did." Draco suddenly smirked and shifted closer to Harry. "I would love to see what other sounds you can make, though..."

Harry blushed and backed away, freezing when his back met one of the metal poles of the swing-set. "O-oh, would you?"

"Oh yes," Draco answered, his eyes glinting hungrily. "Relax, Harry."

That was a bit hard to do, Harry thought, as Draco was pressed rather close to him, though it he did calm a little when Draco kissed him–that, at least, was familiar. He let out a soft whimper when Draco's hands began trailing over his sides, but the hands didn't stop and he felt secret for it, because it felt extremely good.

Draco broke the kiss when they started running out of air and immediately began trailing feather-light kisses over Harry's jaw instead. Harry moaned and squirmed as Draco's lips moved to his neck, his hands fisted in the blond's robes. He let out a yelp that turned into a groan when teeth nipped at his collarbone, and Draco's name fell from his lips when the blond began nipping his way back up to his lips again.

As Draco's lips covered his own again, he felt that it was starting to get a little too hot even though he was sure the temperature of the air around them was dropping.

The sound of voices passing on the street made them part rather quickly, and Draco sent a heated glare in that direction. Harry glanced over as well and instinctively pushed Draco away.

"It's my cousin and his friends," he hissed. "If he sees us, he'll tell my uncle and I won't be able to leave the house for the rest of the summer."

"Which one's your cousin?" Draco asked, a predatory look forming in his eyes as he watched the group of Muggles walk by.

"The one that looks like a walking pig, but you can't do anything, Draco. You'll get expelled."

Draco sighed. "If only I were seventeen. I'd show that swine a lesson."

"Draco..."

"Well, it'll have to wait, I suppose. Will you be leaving now?"

"Yes, sorry," Harry said, giving him a swift kiss. "My uncle's threatened to lock me in the shed if I come home after Dudley again."

Draco's eyes hardened slightly, but he merely shook his head and gave Harry a push toward the gate. "We'll finish this at school. See you, Harry."

Harry blushed deeply at the thought of what they'd just been doing and was immensely grateful it was so dark out. "Thanks so much for visiting, Draco. See you, Aaron!"

When he glanced back from the park gate moments later, they had already gone.

* * *

A few days later, Harry was just coming out of one of his lethargic states and was contemplating pacing his room again when a certain parchment on his desk caught his eyes. It was steadily changing colours. A feeling of dread formed in the pit of his stomach as he got up and headed over to the desk. In all the excitement of the previous day, he'd completely forgotten to write to Draco and his allies about it. As soon as he saw the message Draco had sent, however, he smiled slightly. 

**You'd better bloody answer this right now, Potter, or I'm going to hex you into next week!**

_Hey, Draco, I–_

**About bloody time! I've been waiting for _hours_!**

Harry rolled his eyes at that; he was sure Draco was just being a drama-queen again.

**What's going on? Father came home last night saying you'd been expelled for under-age magic.**

_How'd he know about that?_

**He works at the Ministry a lot, you prat. So he wasn't lying? You really have been expelled?**

_I haven't been expelled, Draco, don't worry. Hey, will the others get anything we write after their names?_

**Yes, but–**

Harry didn't wait for him to finish. He immediately wrote down his allies' names and began describing the events of the previous night. He didn't stop until he was done, even though Draco tried to interrupt several times. And, of course, Draco was the first one to comment once he'd finished.

**There were _dementors_ in your Muggle neighbourhood?**

What were you almost expelled for? You didn't do anything wrong.

**Yeah, that too! And your _aunt_ knows what dementors are and is in contact with wizards?**

I pity whomever she's writing to.

_**I doubt she has actually been writing to anyone.**_

_Yeah, it's like the whole world got flipped on its head. Mrs Figg, my neighbour, is a Squib and knows Dumbledore, and I've been being followed, and my aunt knows what dementors are and that it's bad that Voldemort's back. It's so weird._

**Are you sure you're okay, Harry?**

_I'm fine, Draco, and so is Dudley._

**That's disappointing. His reaction to the dementors sounds pretty interesting, though.**

_**Do you think that Voldemort sent the dementors?**_

_Can you See if he did?_

_**No, my Vision is being blocked still. Aaron?**_

Harry waited a few moments, but when the response came, it wasn't in Aaron's handwriting.

He's probably at the Ministry trying to find out what's going on, Angelo.

_**Oh, yes, I suppose. And Oliver would not be at home at the moment either, would he?**_

**Are they living together now, then?**

Yeah, since school let out. We visited them just last week actually. They've got a pretty nice place. Oliver's been doing really well in all his games, too. Puddlemere United is thinking about giving him a raise.

_That's great! Wait, does Oliver know about the scrolls?_

**Yeah, he and Aaron have been using the same one, actually. I've talked to his a couple times and he said they're going to come to our Christmas party this year.**

_Brilliant, I can't wait to see him again. Did he come to one of the Tasks last year? Aaron said that he might._

_**Yes, he came to the Third Task.**_

And he believed Aaron when he told him what really happened.

**Good.**

_So, what about the dementors? If Voldemort's controlling them, it's only a matter of time before the Death Eaters in Azkaban escape, isn't it?_

**No, Father's mentioned that Voldemort isn't interested in getting them out.**

Then what is he doing?

**I don't know. Do you think Father tells me all of the Dark Lord's plans?**

You just said he told you that.

**I _overheard _that.**

_Well, don't fight about it. If that's all Draco knows, that's all he knows._

**Thanks, Harry.**

_**We should keep an eye on the situation, however.**_

Of course.

_**Voldemort is currently blocking everything he is doing from reaching Seers, but he may slip up.**_

_Keep an eye on him, then. I want to know everything you can find out._

_**We will.**_

_Good. Can we talk about something else, now?_

Sure. How has that dear cousin of yours been doing, other than the dementor attack, of course.

Harry laughed softly and began relaying the latest "Dudley story" with a grin.

* * *

After two long, tedious, gruesome weeks of school, Harry was eager to see Draco again. He'd had to decline the blond's invitation the previous Saturday, as he'd already made plans with Ron and had a mountain of homework to do. However, as soon as Draco had mentioned that they'd be alone today, he'd immediately agreed to come and made the usual excuses to Ron and Hermione. 

Hand smarting, still bleeding, and wrapped in bandages, he was filled with grim pleasure at the thought of meeting with Draco today after two weeks of detention with Umbridge. He had no doubt that if Umbridge found out about his friendship with Draco, she would not only ban them from meeting but would mention it to Lucius Malfoy as well. Draco probably hated her as much as he did.

When Harry stepped through the mirror, he fully expected to be tackled like always and braced himself for it. When nothing happened, he looked up and saw that Draco had paused mid-step, a look of horror on his face.

"What is it?" Harry asked, taking a step toward the Slytherin. As though waking from a trance, Draco shook his head and strode forward, anger quickly replacing the horror on his face.

"What happened to you?" he demanded, grabbing Harry's injured hand. Harry hissed in pain and tried to wrench it away, but Draco held on tight.

"Umbridge happened to me," Harry answered through clenched teeth. He felt a slight movement on his wrist and added hurriedly, "If you don't let go, Senka's going to attack you."

Draco let go immediately, but he was eyeing Harry's right hand with narrowed eyes that glinted blue-white with a protective fire. "What did she do to you?"

Harry hesitated–he'd never seen Draco this furious with anyone else before–but he'd told Ron and Hermione, so he owed Draco an explanation as well. When he finished telling Draco about the detentions, he could easily tell that Draco was livid; he didn't need the deep red necklace around his neck to tell him that.

"That...that... perverse, vile, horrid..." Draco hissed, glaring at Harry's hand, seemingly unable to find the right words to express his feelings. "How could she do that to you? You were telling the truth!"

"She doesn't care. No one at the Ministry believes me, except Aaron and Dumbledore's friends," Harry said, watching him warily.

"I don't care. She had no right to do that to you." Draco growled softly, now glaring at the floor. "I wish I could hurt her. I've got a good curse to use. No one would know about it for weeks..."

"Trust me, I'd like nothing better, but you'll get expelled."

Draco laughed bitterly. "If this was just about being expelled, I'd go curse her right now. You know who she reports to, Harry. If Fudge finds out I've been defending you or attacking Umbridge, he's sure to tell my father."

Harry's eyes widened in understanding; then he frowned slightly. "That means you're going to be a complete arse to me again this year, aren't you?"

"I have to, Harry," Draco answered, looking rather pained. "I don't want to. I _hate_ hurting you. But I can't risk Father finding out about us, especially now Voldemort's back."

"I understand," Harry said with a sigh. "Are you sure you can't hex her? I'll get detention again if I even look at her the wrong way."

"I can't. We'll have to talk to the twins, though; I'm sure they'll do something if we ask." Draco suddenly scowled again and tugged on Harry's undamaged hand to drag him over to their loveseat. "I need to heal your hand..."

"No!" Harry wrenched his hand away and stopped, just as shocked by his outburst as Draco was.

"Why not?"

Harry was silent for a moment. "I want it to heal the Muggle way so I can always remember that I beat that cow at her own game."

"That's stupid," Draco said bluntly.

Harry shrugged, faintly embarrassed. "That's what I want, or I would have gone to Madam Pomfrey. Besides, if you heal it, she's going to wonder who did it."

Draco scowled at him. "It's still stupid."

Harry sighed and shook his head. "I really don't want to argue with you right now. I'm exhausted, and angry, and tired of both. I'm sure this isn't what our meeting was supposed to be about anyway.

"No, but I think it should be." Draco flopped down into the loveseat and tugged Harry with him onto his lap. "Tell me about the last couple weeks."

Harry frowned but began relaying what had happened over the last two weeks nonetheless. Draco alternated between simply holding him and pressing light kisses on the back of his neck, which made it rather hard to concentrate on what he was saying. The blond stopped abruptly when Harry mentioned his conversation with Hermione just a few days before.

"You're going to teach them Defence?"

"I don't know yet," Harry said, shaking his head. "It's an interesting idea, but I don't know what I'd teach them. I'm not that great at Defence Against the Dark Arts–"

"Yes, you are," Draco protested. "You're better than anyone else in the year."

"I'm really not–"

"Quit putting yourself down like that," Draco said harshly, startling the Gryffindor he was holding. "You're excellent at Defence Against the Dark Arts. Look at what you've done, Harry! You've gone up against Voldemort three times and survived! Hardly anyone can boast that, and they have injuries from their encounters."

"You sound like Ron and Hermione," Harry said with a frown, "and I yelled at them already."

"And you can produce a Patronus," Draco continued as though he hadn't heard his boyfriend, "a real one, not the lame substitute most people can manage. And you learned all those spells for the Third Task last year."

"You know, I'm about to start yelling at you, too. Your arguments aren't much better than theirs were," Harry muttered sourly.

"Ah, but you wouldn't do that; you're too tired remember?" Draco smirked faintly, his fingers absently tracing designs on Harry's stomach. "I think it's a great idea, especially given how incompetent our current teacher is. Actually, I kind of want you to teach me, too."

Harry gaped back at him.

"I do. I'm not nearly as good as you in Defence Against the Dark Arts. I think I could learn a lot."

Harry gaped a bit more, then smirked and nodded. "That's true. I've noticed that, actually. Kind of like me with Potions."

"I'm not _that_ bad, Potter," Draco said indignantly, though he was grinning slightly. "So? Will you do it?"

"I still have to think about it," Harry answered.

"Fine, but you'd better make up your mind soon."

Harry just smiled and leaned back against him, his uninjured hand lightly covering one of Draco's. "All right, I've told you about how I've been doing. I'm sure that wasn't really your reason for this meeting."

"Of course not. I wanted to finish what we started on your birthday."

Harry blushed but shifted so that he was facing Draco a bit more. "Will you stop if I start getting uncomfortable?"

"Of course," Draco answered, looking taken aback and almost hurt by the question. "So, you'll let me finish?"

Harry didn't answer; instead, he leaned over and captured Draco's lips in a hungry kiss.

* * *

"Welcome back!" 

Harry started when he stepped through the mirror and heard the chorus of shouts. Fred, George, and Lee were standing on the centre table, welcoming everyone who came in. Harry wondered why they were doing it; the SG seemed much smaller this year. Only Draco and Blaise were there already, and neither of them seemed very happy about it.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as he sat next to Draco, hardly reacting when he was almost immediately pulled into the other boy's arms.

"Blaise and Seamus had a row," Draco murmured. "About you, actually."

"Oh." Harry glanced guilty at the other Slytherin. "About what happened in June and what's been in the papers, right? Yeah, Seamus and I have had a row about that too."

"Blaise said Seamus thinks you're a madman, and that he doesn't want to be involved with him or the SG anymore, because both must have been your ideas and therefore mad as well."

Harry winced. "Bet Blaise took _that_ well. Does he believe me?"

"Yeah, and that's one reason they're fighting. I told him right after we left you in the hospital last year, and he told Seamus. But Seamus had no reason to believe either of us." Draco leaned in close and lowered his voice as he added, "Voldemort approached Blaise's mum over the summer."

Harry looked at him sharply. "And? What did she say?"

"She denied him, of course. Miss Zabini is known for being neutral. But she's still a Dark witch, and she's extremely rich, well connected, and beautiful, so you can bet Voldemort's going to try hard to get her support, if not her loyalty."

Harry glanced back at Blaise's forlorn form. "Well, I'm glad he came then. He needs a good distraction."

"So do you," Draco murmured huskily, nipping at Harry's earlobe. Harry shivered and was about to turn around to give Draco some of his own medicine when a sudden wave of energy swept into the room, exploding several cushions and making all of them jump. The source of the blast was easily identifiable; Angelo was standing just inside the mirror looking absolutely livid. Even as Harry watched, the older boy seemed to get more and more irate until his eyes started glowing red and a vortex of magic began swirling about him, whirling dust and feathers and red sparks about his feet.

Harry shrank back into Draco, unsure of what was going on but sure that he didn't want to get involved, while Draco held him even closer so that he thought he might not be able to breath. Blaise had also shied away and was eyeing Angelo nervously. The twins and Lee, however, jumped down from the table and dashed over to see if they could calm their classmate down.

Angelo didn't seem to notice them. He red eyes were fixed on the ground and Harry wouldn't have been surprised if it was melting under his gaze.

"What happened?" Fred asked urgently, though Harry noticed he looked wary as well.

"I despise that woman," Angelo hissed softly, not even answering the question, his hands shaking as they balled into fists.

The twins glanced at each other before George asked, "Who?"

"That...that...vile, depraved, loathsome bitch!" The patch of ground Angelo had been glaring at suddenly exploded in a shower of rocks an dust, leaving a small crater behind. Harry felt Draco tighten his hold reflexively.

Kiran chose that moment to step into the room behind Angelo. He took one look at the scene before him and scowled. "Her again?"

"Who?" Lee asked insistently.

"Umbridge," Kiran answered in a growl, placing a light hand on Angelo's arm to try and calm him. "What'd that cow do this time?"

"She gave me a detention for wearing Muggle clothes," Angelo murmured, sounding more dangerous than before. "Effing bitch knows I am allowed to wear what I like on the weekend..."

"What do you mean by 'this time'?" Fred asked, scowling slightly.

"She gave him a week's worth of detentions just last Saturday for wondering the halls at night and said the only reason she hadn't got on him earlier was because her nights had already been full," Kiran answered softly.

"Yeah, 'cause I was there," Harry commented, briefly showing them his scabbed over hand. Draco hurriedly grabbed it and hid it again, looking frantic, but the damage had already been done.

Angelo had frozen as soon as Harry's hand had appeared, staring at it with blood red eyes. As soon as Draco hid it from view, he let out a pained growl and lunged forward towards Harry, his eyes now fixed on where the Gryffindor's hand had disappeared. His classmates grabbed him and held him back, but it soon became obvious that he was stronger than all four of them combined, as he was slowly managing to make his way toward Harry and Draco. Blaise shortly got up and tried to help them, though it didn't seem to help; Harry could feel Draco's grip on his waist tighten painfully–

"_Stupefy!_"

Kiran had obviously grown tired of their fruitless efforts and had tried magical means of subduing his boyfriend instead. It did the trick; a burst of red light hit Angelo in the chest and he slumped forward into their arms. Silently, Kiran gathered him up and strode over to the bed, drawing the curtains around them after he laid Angelo down.

"What did I do?" Harry whispered after a moment, scared that if he said much more he might set someone else off.

Draco sighed exasperatedly and grabbed Harry's healing hand while he pulled out his wand. "You didn't do anything, Harry, but I think it's time we healed this properly."

"Draco, no, I told you–"

"It's going to scar no matter what now," Draco said bluntly. When Harry didn't protest again, he tapped his wand against the scabbed over wounds. "_Episkey._"

He nodded in satisfaction as the wounds shut and healed completely, leaving a set of shiny white scars behind.

"So what happened?" Harry asked hesitantly, glancing over at the curtained bed.

"You showed him blood while he was unstable," Draco answered, briefly raking his fingers though his hair. "He'll probably tell you more thoroughly once Kiran gets him calmed down. Trust me, stuff like this happens pretty often with him, though it's been happening more often this year. Probably because of Umbridge."

"But why–"

"Umbridge hates half-breeds, especially Angelo 'cause he managed to get into school," Draco explained as if that explained everything.

"So he came at me because my hand was all cut up?" Harry asked sceptically.

"Yes."

They both looked up to see Angelo and Kiran walking back over. Angelo's eyes were still red and he was moving purposefully, but he looked much calmer than before. He knelt by the foot of the loveseat and looked up at Harry hesitantly.

"Please forgive my behaviour earlier. I was not acting rationally, but I should not have tried to attack you no matter what state I was in. I will do my best to keep that from happening again."

"Er, yeah, you're forgiven," Harry answered, rather taken aback. Angelo stood with a thankful smile and a bow.

"Thank you. I am truly sorry."

"One thing though," Harry added as Angelo took his place next to Kiran. "Could you explain why you _did_ try to attack me? Was it really just showing you my hand?"

"Yes, it was." Angelo regarded him carefully for a moment before he went on, "I think perhaps I can tell you now. Maybe I should have last year, but I was not sure how you would react."

"Why are you so cautious about it? Is it really that bad?"

"Actually, in my second year, someone I did not wish to know discovered my secret and spread it all over the school. The Headmaster was nearly sacked and I, expelled." Angelo smiled faintly at the memory, then continued seriously, "I am a Vampire, Harry."

Harry stared at him.

"Well, a half-Vampire, actually," Angelo said to fill in the silence. "My father was a wizard, but the Ministry likes to think of me as full-blooded."

"You're a Vampire?" Harry asked weakly.

"Yes."

"Like those cape-wearing monsters that turn into bats and drink blood and disintegrate in sunlight? That type of Vampire?" Harry was starting to feel that his earlier impressions of Angelo being creepy had been correct.

"Oh no, I have far better taste than them," Angelo said with a laugh. "No, they are among the weakest of our kind. I am an Incubus, far different."

"Basically, instead of blood, he has to Feed on sexual energy," Kiran explained at Harry's blank look.

"I do have to drink blood, too, however, since I am only a Halfling," Angelo added.

Harry's eyes widened and he looked accusingly at Angelo. "That's what you were doing last year when you kissed me!"

"Yes, forgive me," Angelo answered, briefly inclining his head. "My control is rather poor. I do wish I had not done it. It took my by surprise to see you there so late and I was hungry. I would never have touched you otherwise."

Harry eyed him for a moment before he finally asked, "So why are you allowed to come to Hogwarts? Or carry a wand? Aren't non-humans not allowed?"

"Normally, but I am registered with the Ministry as both an Incubus and a wizard. Of course, I would have been able to come regardless, because I can do wizard magic and I can blend in with your kind well enough." Angelo shrugged. "Hagrid is in the same position, but I would bet he is only registered as a wizard, or was until last year, at least."

"Why are you registered as both?"

"I am very proud of what I am, as is my mother, and I can pass easily enough as a wizard that most people cannot tell what I am on sight."

"Er, how do you, er, Feed?" Harry asked to give himself more time to adjust to the situation. "Dumbledore wouldn't let you suck energy and blood from the other students."

Angelo smiled faintly. "He did not wish to, no, but as I would die otherwise, there was no viable alternative. I have donors who willingly give me what I need. Aaron was one of them."

"We are, too, this year," Fred announced with a grin.

"Mum wouldn't let us do it before, or we already would have been for years," George added with a nod.

"Of course Dumbledore might not have let us until we were fifteen or something either."

"But we're of age now, so we can decide for ourselves."

"Although he let Aaron do it at twelve..."

"Aaron's special, though."

Harry had stopped listening; he'd remembered something that Kiran and Draco had said back at Christmas.

"What about you, Kiran?" he asked, looking straight at the blond in question. "Are you a Vampire too? Is that why you can't use the dagger you gave me?"

Both Kiran and Angelo hesitated before the latter finally answered, "Kiran is my Hunter, the one born to kill me, since no normal wizard would be capable of it. Most Hunters are part-human, usually werewolves since we are mortal enemies. The Ministry does not know about him."

"Lucky that they don't," Kiran muttered, "or I'd probably be forced to kill you."

"You could be anyway," Angelo replied with a slight roll of his eyes. He turned back to Harry with a faint smile. "Do you have any more questions?"

Harry had plenty of questions, but he wasn't sure how to articulate them. He finally asked, "You're not going to attack me again, are you?"

"If I do, you may punish me however you like," Angelo answered solemnly. "I do not plan to, but as I said before, I have horrible control."

Harry was silent for another moment, then shrugged. "Okay, then. I'm already friends with a werewolf and a half-giant," he added when Angelo seemed shocked by how easily he accepted the Vampire. "Why not a half-Vampire too?"

"A were–ah, yes, Remus Lupin." Angelo smiled grimly. "He was a very good teacher, but we never got along. At least we were in a school setting so we could not kill each other."

"Lupin's alright," Harry protested. "Couldn't you ignore that you're enemies?"

Angelo shook his head. "It is not that simple. It is not merely a way we were raised; it is in our genes. We are born with that hatred. There is nothing we can do."

"You're friends with Kiran," Harry noted.

"That is different. With Kiran, I did not know he was my Hunter until he told me. Vampires and werewolves can identify each other on sight. I would like to be friendly with him, I really would, but it is impossible."

"Don't argue it, Harry," Draco murmured in his ear. "That's just the way it is."

Harry frowned but nodded and gave in. "Alright." He turned back to Angelo with a curious expression. "You said the type of vampire we've studied in Defence Against the Dark Arts is the weakest of your kind. Are there more kinds than just those and yours?"

"Yes, three others, actually. But it is a very long and detailed topic, and I am not quite patient enough to explain it right now." Angelo shrugged and smiled faintly. "Perhaps another time."

"Are any of them thinking about joining Voldemort?" Harry asked.

Angelo laughed outright at that, while next to him, Kiran smirked in amusement. "Absolutely not! Well, perhaps the Psychics, but Voldemort would never allow them in his ranks. No, we are a very proud race, Harry, and we like to keep out of human affairs. We have enough problems between just ourselves to worry about human nonsense."

"But you–"

"I do not count; I am half human and I have bonded myself to you," Angelo said with his own smirk. "Your affairs are mine also. But very few other Vampires will choose to participate in the war, and hardly any of them will fight for Voldemort. He has not extended his hand to us this time, but you have, so we will be fighting for you."

"Thanks," Harry said, taken aback slightly by this sudden declaration of allegiance, though he wasn't sure how he's 'extended his hand' to them in the first place. It seemed like Angelo had been the one to do that to him.

"Of course, Harry."

"Will any of the other Vampires be mad that you're bonded to me?"

Angelo frowned slightly for a moment, then shook his head. "No, I do not think so. My mother was not very happy when I told her, but she has learned to accept it. None of the others will question it, however. We have too many other problems to worry about one Vampire that is bonded to a wizard."

Harry smiled in relief. "That's good. I wouldn't want you to get alienated because of me."

"You do not have to worry about that. I will be fine."

Harry nodded with another faint smile, surprised himself by how at ease he still felt around Angelo. It really didn't seem to matter much that the older boy was really a Vampire. In fact, if it made sure that he would have more help in the upcoming war against Voldemort, he was going to welcome Angelo and any of his fellow Vampires with open arms.

* * *

AN: By the way, for anyone who wants to know more about Angelo and Kiran and their relationship with the twins, Lee, and Aaron, I'm posting a fic all about them and their time at Hogwarts from the very beginning. It's called _Century Child_. It'll have lots of background info, including: how Aaron and Oliver met and started dating; how the twins and Lee figured out their own love; how Angelo really gets along with the people of Hogwarts; and why Kiran didn't kill him as soon as he got the chance. Go check it out!


	12. Part III Ch X The Other DA

AN: For anyone who missed this (probably a lot of you, sorry!): if anyone wants to know more about Angelo and Kiran and their relationship with the twins, Lee, and Aaron, I've posting a fic all about them and their time at Hogwarts from the very beginning. It's called _Century Child_. It'll have lots of background info, including: how Aaron and Oliver met and started dating; how the twins and Lee figured out their own love; how Angelo really gets along with the people of Hogwarts; and why Kiran didn't kill him as soon as he got the chance. Chapters of CC and BS will be posted together. Chapter 2 is up now!

* * *

Background Secrets

Part III: Fifth Year

Chapter X: The Other DA

"So, we have a problem."

It was the Saturday after the first Hogsmeade visit of the year and they were gathered again in the SGC. This time, however, there were no happy faces and curious questions, only a very sombre mood. Why? Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four.

Harry was sure that he had never seen the twins so serious before.

"Why did that decree appear so suddenly?" Angelo asked, looking at Fred as though he had all of the answers. "Did Umbridge find out about us?"

"No," Fred answered, though he seemed rather uncomfortable about it. "I'm not sure how much we can say..."

"Not much; Hermione put a jinx on the parchment we signed that'll activate if we say anything to anyone who doesn't already know about it," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Know about what?" Draco asked curiously. Harry looked at him thoughtfully, taking his time to answer as he'd just realized that he and Draco had spoken about this briefly only a few weeks before.

"I mentioned it to you a few weeks ago. It's what Hermione wanted me to do."

"Oh! Your teaching them Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Draco asked, suddenly excited. "Is that this is about?"

Harry nodded silently.

"How many people are you teaching?"

"More than Ron and Hermione," Harry said carefully.

"So you're teaching some group of students Defence and it got all clubs banned?" Kiran asked, scowling.

"Apparently," Fred said.

"We're not sure how Umbridge found out about it though," George added.

"Anyway, that brings us back to the original problem," Lee went on. "What are _we_ going to do about this?"

"We're going to keep meeting, of course," Draco said immediately, as though that were obvious. "Who cares what that old cow says?"

"What about the decree?" Blaise spoke up, looking worried. "If we're found out, we could be expelled or worse."

"We haven't been found out yet," Lee pointed out.

"And we must not tell Umbridge about us. She would never allow us to keep meeting," Angelo said with a frown, his eyes glowing red as they had been constantly for the past few weeks.

"Yeah, I don't want her to know," Draco agreed.

Blaise scowled at him. "What if she finds out, Draco? What if your _father_ finds out?"

Draco scowled right back. "I'll risk it."

"Umbridge can't know," Harry said vehemently, "especially now that we've met today. We'll all be expelled."

Blaise looked away with a sulky expression.

"So are we all agreed?" Fred asked loudly. "We'll keep meeting and won't tell Umbridge what we're doing or ask her permission to do it?"

Everyone agreed, even Blaise reluctantly, after barely a second. Then Angelo suddenly raised a hand to draw everyone's attention.

"I was thinking that the Defence Against the Dark Arts group you mentioned sounds like an excellent idea, especially with our current...teacher–"

"Hear, hear!" agreed the twins.

"–but also that Harry is going to need more training than that, as I am sure he will not learn much as the teacher. In fact, we could all use more training now that Voldemort is at large again. Since we are already defying Umbridge on one account, perhaps we should train as well and defy her on another."

"In the SG?" Lee asked in surprise.

Angelo nodded. "Obviously, we would not do the same things as Harry's group, as we should already know most of it–"

"Although learning to make Patronuses is definitely something we should do," Kiran interrupted, looking as though he agreed with Angelo completely.

"Of course, and Harry can teach us that. We should all take turns teaching, actually, since I am sure we all know different things."

"That's a great idea!" Draco commented. Harry wasn't sure if he wholly agreed; he was already teaching one group of students and most of them were his age or younger. It would feel very odd to teach older students, especially if they were students who seemed to already know any spells he had to teach and more.

"Yeah, actually, we might learn a lot more that way than just with the D.A." Fred sent Harry an apologetic look as he added, "Not that you're not a great teacher, but it's kind of pathetic how poorly some of the others were doing at the meeting."

"It's definitely not a bad idea," Lee agreed.

"Would you be willing to do it, Harry?" Angelo asked. Harry glanced around at the rest of them and sighed.

"As long as I don't have to teach everything," he conceded.

"No, of course not. We will be teaching you most of the time."

"Okay, then."

"So, what are we going to learn first?" George asked, pulling out his wand.

Harry stared at him, alarmed. "We're going to start _now_?"

"Sure, why not?" Fred said with a shrug.

"We should learn Stunning," Draco said enthusiastically, pulling out his own wand. "Harry knows how to do that."

"Good, because we don't," Lee said.

"I do," Kiran said with a scowl.

"Yes, but you had to learn many more spells than the rest of us, as a Hunter," Angelo said with a smile. "I do not know how to Stun either."

"I guess we'll learn Stunning, then," Harry said resignedly as he stood. Draco eagerly got to his feet right after, as did the others.

"Are you going to teach us, Harry?" the younger blond asked excitedly.

"I might as well. Will you help me demonstrate, Draco?"

Draco nodded. "What do you want me to do?"

"Stand in front of the loveseat and lean back a little." Harry took his place in front of Draco and raised his wand. He made sure everyone was paying attention, sent Draco a faint smile, and said, "_Stupefy_!"

A jet of red light shot out of his wand and hit Draco squarely in the chest. Draco fell unconscious onto the loveseat and slid down to the floor. The twins immediately applauded.

"_Rennervate_," Harry said, waving his wand over Draco. He held his free hand down to the blond when he woke and helped Draco to his feet again.

"So, let's split up into pairs and practice," Harry said, absently noticing that Draco was still holding his hand. "We've only got eight people, so we can all practice at the same time."

It was still very odd to see his instructions being carried out, no matter whether two of the other students were bonded to him or not. Angelo and Kiran started immediately, with the Vampire doing the stunning since his boyfriend already knew how to do it. The twins and Lee had a bit more trouble, but they soon sorted it out with Lee going to partner with Blaise. Harry switched places with Draco and set his wand aside.

"All right, Draco, let's see what you can do."

Draco's eyes glittered. "Is that a challenge?"

Harry smirked slightly and shrugged. "Maybe."

Once Draco had successfully Stunned him three times in a row (which happened surprisingly quickly; he was sure he hadn't mastered this spell in ten minutes), Harry had him join Lee and Blaise and looked around to see how the others were doing. The twins seemed to be doing rather well, though Harry's hadn't expected them to have any problems, as was Lee. Blaise wasn't perfect, but he didn't seem to be struggling either. Angelo, however, was unmistakably having trouble.

As Harry watched, Angelo tried three times to Stun Kiran, but Kiran was only unsteadied a bit on his feet. Harry couldn't understand why; hadn't Blaise said the black-haired Slytherin had gotten eleven O.W.L.s? It didn't seem like he had a good grasp on magic at all.

"You just need to focus; you're been doing alright in class," he heard Kiran say as he headed over.

"You know it is harder after the summer," Angelo said, sounding frustrated as he tried again with no results.

"We've been back for almost six weeks! In class–"

"I have been using wandless a lot in class," Angelo murmured.

Kiran fixed him with a heated glare. "You know we're not allowed to use wandless during school! I've been trying to use my wand the whole time!"

"Are you having trouble, Angelo?" Harry asked as he stopped next to them, his mind on overdrive. Wandless what? Wandless magic?

Angelo shook his head with a faint smile. "Just a little. I am usually rather good at this type of thing. I will get the hang of it."

"Would it help if you did it wandlessly?" Harry asked cautiously, unsure of whether it would be a good idea to let them know he'd overheard them.

Both Slytherins looked surprised for a moment, then Kiran glared daggers at Angelo's head while the latter just smiled slightly. "It would, I think."

He slid his wand back into his pocket and flicked his hand toward Kiran. "_Stupefy_!"

Kiran still had a dirty look on his face when Angelo's spell hit him and knocked him out. Angelo's lips quirked in amusement as he hurried over to revive his boyfriend, also wandlessly. Harry was gaping at him; he'd thought they'd been joking.

Angelo smiled at his expression while Kiran just glared at the back of his head again. "I had to learn wandless magic in case the Ministry did not allow me a wand. It is still easier for me. Kiran had to learn so he would be able to fight me adequately."

"That's really cool. I didn't know magic could be used like that." Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "I've used wandless magic before, but I never meant to do it."

"It's easier when you've been taught from birth," Kiran said with a shrug, though he still didn't look wholly keen on the topic. "And it's much harder after you used only a wand for several years, but anyone can learn."

"I don't get it. How come we aren't taught it at Hogwarts?" asked Draco's voice. All three of them turned in surprise; the others had been listening eagerly for several minutes.

"I asked McGonagall about that a few years ago, actually," Angelo said thoughtfully. "She said it was because wandless magic is so difficult to get right. It often comes out unfocused and uncontrolled, even when you are trying to do it right, because it relies on your emotions as well as the movements used. Wands focus magic and draw it out no matter what, though that still relies a bit on emotion. Wandless magic is often unpractical."

"So, same reason she doesn't teach all kinds of transfiguration," Fred commented.

"Yes. I suggested to her that there be a separate class for it, one of the elective ones, but she claimed no one would sign up for it, and that it would be hard to test."

"I'd have signed up for it," George said indignantly.

"Me too," Lee agreed. "We should learn."

"Yeah, that'd be more useful than learning a bunch of curses and jinxes," Blaise added. "We can always do that next year."

"We can teach you, then," Angelo said.

"It'll take a while, though," Kiran warned.

"Who cares? When can we start?" Draco asked excitedly as he put away his wand.

Angelo and Kiran glanced at each other before Angelo shook his head. "Not today. Next time, perhaps, but not today."

* * *

Once glance at Draco betrayed his excitement; he was practically bouncing in his seat, and his eyes kept darting anxiously toward the mirror. Harry almost laughed every time he looked at the other boy, though probably wasn't doing much better himself; Angelo and Kiran had promised to start teaching them wandless magic today and he was eager to get started.

Of course, Angelo and Kiran were the only ones that hadn't shown up yet. The other six members of the SG were already there, and had been for several minutes, so they were all getting a bit impatient. After all, it wasn't every day when one was about to learn controlled wandless magic.

Then, after what seemed to be hours, the two Slytherin seventh years stepped through the mirror...with two girls.

Everyone tensed and stared at them apprehensively, though after a moment, Harry was the only one that didn't relax. Draco and Blaise were frowning at the two girls, however, and the twins and Lee were looking confused, but none of them seemed to find it incredibly odd that they were there.

Harry studied the girls again. The shorter, and obviously younger, girl had curly blond hair and was looking curiously around with vibrant blue eyes, plainly eager to go off exploring but couldn't since the other girl had tight grip on her hand. This girl was looking around as well, though her face remained emotionless, her vividly green eyes carefully blank, while her free hand reached up to flick a strand of dark red hair back behind her shoulders. Both were Slytherins, although only the red-head looked the part.

"Let her go, Dom, or she's going to drag you around with her," Kiran said to the older girl with a roll of his eyes. The girl, "Dom," glanced at him and let go of her partner's hand. The blonde was off in an instant, flitting about looking at things like a hyperactive child.

"What are they doing here?" Draco asked finally, staring suspiciously at Angelo.

"They wanted to learn wandless magic," Angelo answered. "So I asked them to come."

"Allowed us to come, you mean," the red-head corrected. Harry blinked in surprise; her voice was much lower than he'd expected. "Though we would have followed you anyway. You can't deny us anything."

"She's got you there," Kiran snickered, smirking at Angelo. "I'm almost jealous of how easily they can get something from you."

Angelo glared back at him, but before he could respond, Harry spoke up, asking, "What's going on?"

Harry once again had the feeling that he was incredibly out of place when every eye he knew looked at him incredulously. Draco was the first to recover, and he looked embarrassed by his initial response.

"That's Dominique Adrasteia," he said, pointing to the auburn-haired girl, "and Gabrielle Cian. Dom's a seventh year, and Gabi's in sixth."

"They are the girls we took to the Yule Ball last year," Angelo explained.

"Oh." Harry glanced back and forth between the two girls for a moment before giving Dominique a hesitant grin. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," she said offhandedly before turning to murmur something to Kiran. Harry stared at her, unsure of what he'd done so that she already didn't like him.

'Don't mind her," said a chirpy voice in his ear. He turned, startled, to see Gabrielle leaning over the back of the loveseat, grinning at him. "She's just nervous," Gabrielle whispered conspiratorially. "She's not used to socializing outside of Slytherin, and especially not with the Boy-Who-Lived."

"You two don't believe the _Prophet_, do you?" Harry asked uncertainly.

Gabrielle giggled and shook her head. "Silly, no one in Slytherin really believes the stupid _Prophet_! We all know the Dark Lord's back. But we're not supposed to support you; we could get in big trouble for that!"

Harry was almost relieved, but it wasn't a comforting thought that the only students in the school that actually believed him were those who were most likely to become Death Eaters. He still smiled at Gabrielle as he remarked, "I'm glad _some_ students have sense."

"Of course; Slytherins _are_ superior after all," Gabrielle said with another giggle before she flitted away to try pulling Dominique further into the room.

Harry stared at her as she left, then gave Draco a sceptical look. "How did _she_ get into Slytherin?"

Draco smirked slightly as she watched the two girls. "You'd be surprised what Gabi's capable of when she'd determined. She's certainly not the airhead she seems to be. She got all 'O's on her O.W.L.s, for one thing. No one in Slytherin denies that she's right where she belongs."

Harry gave him another sceptical look. "Are _all_ of your friends people who got top O.W.L.s?"

"No, of course not," Draco said with a laugh. "Look at Vincent and Gregory; no way those two buffoons are going to pass their O.W.L.s."

It took Harry a moment to register who Draco was talking about, since he hardly ever heard Crabbe and Goyle referred to by their first names, but then he laughed as well. "Are they really your friends?"

Draco thought for a moment. "No, perhaps you're right. My only friends are those who got, or will get, top marks on their O.W.L.s."

Harry laughed again, shaking his head in amusement.

Angelo suddenly cleared his throat and they all looked over to where he and Kiran were still standing.

"Well, we promised to begin teaching you wandless magic today," he started, looking much calmer than Harry knew he had when he'd started teaching the D.A., "so we will begin with the basics.

"Controlled wandless magic requires complete emotional detachment. Many wizards have mastered it only to be blown up by their own power because they lost control of their emotions when that control was most needed. More wizards have never mastered it because they were unable to achieve the calm required. Most wizards feel that it is a waste of time to learn, for that reason."

"Obviously, it's not, because if you know wandless magic, and your enemy doesn't, you'll have an advantage over them," Kiran said, sounding almost amused. "Of course, the battlefield is usually a place of high emotion, so it's not always the best thing to use."

"The key to wandless magic is to have a clear mind free of extraneous thoughts and feelings. That is what we are going to focus on today. Please close your eyes."

Harry was sure he wasn't the only one bewildered by this, but they all did as they were told without much question.

"Clear your minds," said Angelo's voice. "Focus on nothing. Observe any thoughts you may have without really thinking about them. Simply acknowledge their presence and let them go on their own."

That was extremely difficult, Harry felt, nearly as difficult as relaxing when Draco wanted to snog him. In fact, most of the thoughts drifting through his mind as he tried to clear it were those of Draco, whether good or bad. It made it rather difficult to calm his emotions or to get rid of those thoughts.

After a few minutes of fruitlessly clearing his mind, he opened his eyes a fraction to see how everyone else was doing. Fred currently had a faint smirk on his lips, while his twin and Lee were both frowning in concentration. Blaise looked a little frustrated and was shaking his head every so often, as though he could shake his thoughts out of his head. Draco seemed to be remembering something particularly pleasant, as was Dominique. Indeed, the only person who seemed to have already gotten the hang of this was Gabrielle, something Harry had thought impossible.

Harry sighed and closed his eyes again, intent on getting this right. He really wanted to be able to do wandless magic.

* * *

They met the next Saturday and practiced clearing their minds again, as Angelo said that it was too dangerous to teach them anymore unless they got it right. It was horribly difficult, and Harry often found himself wishing that they weren't even trying it, but then Angelo or Kiran would perform some spell wandlessly and he'd try harder. He'd even begun trying outside of 'classes,' though not often, because anytime he tried, someone would ask him what was wrong.

During the week before the first Quidditch match of the year, all D.A. and SG meetings were postponed so that those people who were on their House Quidditch teams could practice. All notes stopped being exchanged between them, as well, and the reality that several of his friends were in his rival House hit home when Harry passed Angelo in the hall one day and the Vampire hardly spared him a glance except to sneer at him. Surprisingly, Draco wasn't quite as mean as usual to Harry in the days leading up to the match, but that was mostly because he was focusing his efforts on intimidating Ron.

After the match, Harry secretly wished that Ron wasn't on the team just so Malfoy wouldn't have had someone other than himself to pick on.

He wasn't sure when he'd been more miserable or more furious. He thought that maybe those few months back in third year when he'd been under the Insularis Rite came close, but he was definitely far more infuriated now than he ever had been back then.

Of course, it was only a day after the match. His knuckles still throbbed every so often from the multiple times he'd punched his boyfriend, and the loss of Quidditch completely still made his heart ache. Perhaps after a few days all that would die down, or perhaps this would all turn into one long nightmare. But the note demanding that Malfoy meet him tonight had already been sent and accepted, and he was itching to get even with the blond, so he dutifully waited in the SGC for Malfoy to show up.

His eyes narrowed when Malfoy stepped through the mirror, and he applauded himself for staying put and not immediately rushing over to beat the crap out of his boyfriend. He wondered absently whether this was how Malfoy felt every time the blond got ready to yell at him.

"You're a right git, you know that?" he hissed as Malfoy stopped just outside reaching distance from him. It infuriated him even more to see that Malfoy was almost uncaringly calm.

"Am I?" Malfoy asked softly, raising an eyebrow. "Is that all? Or would you like to beat me up again too?"

"I'd like it if you actually seemed to care!" Harry growled, his hands fisting at his sides, as he mustered all his strength not to pound Malfoy into the ground that instant.

"What am I supposed to be caring about?" Malfoy asked.

"What you did yesterday! That whole 'Weasley is Our King' crap!"

"As I recall, _you_'re the one who lost control–"

"BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID ANTICS!" Harry yelled, shaking with anger. "I GOT BANNED, MALFOY, _BANNED_! FOR LIFE! FRED AND GEORGE TOO!"

For a moment, Malfoy almost looked unsettled, but then he gained a cold stare. "It's your fault if you got banned, Harry. I'm not the one who pounded his boyfriend into the ground in front of the whole school."

"BECAUSE OF YOU! I NEVER WOULD HAVE TOUCHED YOU IF YOU'D JUST SHUT YOUR BLOODY MOUTH!"

"Would you have?"

Harry started, taken aback for a moment. "What?"

"Would you have stayed quiet? Knowing that you'd just lost, your father was going to hear about it from multiple sources _again_, and your status in Slytherin was about to drop again because you couldn't even beat the Boy-Who-Lived in a stupid Quidditch match?"

Harry scowled. "I wouldn't have insulted your mother or your friends' family."

"But you'd have done something," Malfoy remarked. He took a step forward only to immediately move away again when one of Harry's fists swung at him. His expression turned icy. "Do you really think I meant any of that? Do you really believe I'm such a horrible person that I'd hurt my boyfriend, the person I _love_, so maliciously?"

"I'm finding it difficult to believe much of what's been coming out of your mouth for the past few years," Harry answered callously.

Malfoy stared at him, hurt clearly written on his face however much he was trying to hide it. "What?"

"How am I supposed to know whether anything you've said to me has been genuine?" Harry spat out. "I saw your eyes yesterday, Malfoy. They were the same eyes that look at me in private. They never look like that in public. You really meant what you said. How am I supposed to know what's a mask and what's not when there's no difference between the two?"

"Maybe if you trusted me–"

"I do trust you!" Harry interjected angrily. "Or I did until you pulled that stupid stunt! Now I'm not sure whether I can!"

Malfoy gave him a cold glare. "If you really trusted me before, you still would. You would have realized that I didn't mean I word of it and that I was only acting."

"Oh? So now I'm the stupid one?"

"I didn't say that, but yes, I think you're being the stupid one right now."

Harry growled softly and, without warning, launched himself at Malfoy, his fist flying out at the other boy. Malfoy easily caught his arm and used Harry's momentum to turn them around and slam the younger boy back against the wall. Harry hissed in pain and anger as Malfoy's hands pinned his own above his head and Malfoy's body pressed so close that he wouldn't be able to kick the blond either.

"Let go of me!" Harry snarled, struggling against his captor.

Malfoy smirked and leaned forward to whisper in Harry's ear, "Not until you apologize."

"For what?"

"For yelling at me and not trusting me," Malfoy answered simply. Harry stared incredulously at the side of his head.

"Yeah, right! You're the one who needs to apologize, for a very, very long time!"

Malfoy chuckled softly and pressed a light next to Harry's ear. "I don't think so. I'm not one at fault here."

"Yes, you are! You're–stop that!" Harry demanded as Malfoy began pressing kisses to his neck. "I'm still mad at you!"

"I know, and that's what makes it fun," Malfoy answered, pausing to smirk at Harry.

"You are not going to make out with me while I'm mad at you! Let go!"

"No," Malfoy answered simply. "I don't want to fight, Harry, and I don't want you to beat me up again. I think you can get rid of that energy in far better ways."

"Let go of me, Draco," Harry growled, even using the blond's given name in hope that he'd let go.

"Do you have any idea how attractive you are when you're angry?" Malfoy murmured in response, his voice muffled as he nuzzled at Harry's neck.

"Ah...no, quit it..." But Harry was starting to find it rather difficult to protest what Malfoy was doing. It just felt so _good_; how could he be mad at this person who was making him feel so good?

Then Malfoy murmured, "Apologize," and Harry remember just way he was mad and began struggling again in earnest.

"LET GO!"

Malfoy sighed and pulled back just enough so he could look Harry in the eyes. "Do you really want to fight me, Harry?"

Harry glared back at him. "I want you to get off me. I'll figure it out from there."

"So Gryffindor of you," Malfoy said with a faint smirk. "Didn't I tell you once that those Gryffindor qualities are going to get you killed one day?"

Harry sighed heavily and turned pleading instead. "I promise I won't hit you if you let go."

"Why should I trust someone that doesn't trust me back?"

Harry winced at the hurt so evident in Malfoy's voice. "Please? I swear I won't."

Malfoy eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then let go and back away, hands up in surrender. Harry relaxed a bit, though he'd begun glaring at Malfoy again.

"All right, say that I believe you're sorry for what you did," Harry started, "which I don't. What are you going to do to make it up to me?"

"Who said anything about making it up to you?" Malfoy said, sounding surprised.

"I did. And you'll do it if you want me to do anything, _anything_, with you for the rest of the year."

Malfoy stared at him, appalled. "You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do," Harry said with a hard look. "Because that's how long it'll take for me to forgive you otherwise."

Malfoy stared at him for a few more moments before he sighed dejectedly. "All right. What do you want me to do?"

Harry smiled bitterly at that. "No, you get to figure that out on your own. I know you're good at that. You managed to make me love you so much that I still do even after all this."

"You do?" Malfoy asked, suddenly looking very hopeful.

"Yes, and that's why what you did hurts so much." Harry was silent for a moment, looking as though he'd like to say more, but eventually turned away and stepped back through the mirror, murmuring a soft, "Goodnight, Malfoy," as he went.

* * *

"Here."

Harry blinked in surprise and hesitantly took the parchments Malfoy was offering him. "What's this?"

"Our Potions, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Astronomy essays," Malfoy answered, "plus the notes we took in Potions and Transfiguration the last couple classes. I charmed them to be in your handwriting, so you don't have to copy them out."

Harry gaped at him. "You did my homework for me?"

"I thought you could use a break," Malfoy said with a nod.

Harry stared at him a few seconds longer before he smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

Malfoy just smiled. "I thought you might."

"This is to get me to forgive you for Saturday, isn't it?" Harry asked suspicious, though he was still smiling.

"Is it working?"

"A little."

"What did you think about the thestrals yesterday?" Malfoy asked after a moment. Harry frowned down at the essays in his hand.

"What did _you_ think about them?"

"They were interesting," Malfoy answered carefully. "But I'm very glad I can't see them, and I really wish you couldn't either. Well, okay, I do wish I could, but not at the cost that it takes. I don't want to see anyone die."

Harry smiled again, though it was fainter than before and more thoughtful. "You're really trying to make up with me, aren't you?"

"Of course, I am. Although, I–" Malfoy paused and seemed to rethink what he was about to say, going on more slowly, "I didn't mean to hurt you so badly. I really didn't expect you to get so upset about what I said, because you never have before, and I certainly didn't mean to get you banned. Neither of the other Seekers have a clue as to how to play against me."

Harry blinked in surprise as he recognized his own words from way back in third year. Then he smirked slightly; Malfoy and Hermione were so alike it was frightening, and they'd both hate it if they knew.

Malfoy smiled, obviously misinterpreting the reason behind Harry's smirk. "I wasn't thinking when I said those things, Harry, and I'm going to work hard to show you that."

"I know. Thank you for the essays." Harry pressed a brief kiss to Malfoy's cheek, still furious with him but feeling as though he should have some reward for doing so much work so far.

* * *

"Harry! We should learn Patronuses today!"

Harry squirmed uncomfortably in the grip of the girl hanging on his neck, giving a pleading glance at Draco, who just sat back looking amused. Gabrielle had become rather attached to him since she first started with the SG, not seeming to care at all that she was a Slytherin and had a girlfriend.

"Gabi, you're going to suffocate him if you're not careful."

Harry gave Dominique a grateful smile as Gabrielle let go of him and pouted at her girlfriend. Here was another person he wasn't sure of how–perhaps it was because she was so close to Angelo–but he'd certainly gained a powerful ally in the auburn-haired girl.

"I'm tired of meditating and wandless magic," Gabrielle whined, now leaning on Harry rather than choking him. "Let's do Patronuses."

"Yeah, let's do Patronuses, Harry," Draco agreed eagerly, already pulling out his wand. "I've never seen yours before."

"You haven't?" Harry said, surprised, yet as he wracked his brain, he couldn't remember a time when Draco might have seen it.

"No, I've never been around when you've had to use it," Draco answered, shaking his head.

"Besides, when are we going to do Patronuses in the D.A.?" Fred asked.

"Probably not for months, right?" George added.

"But wouldn't it be better to know how to do them as soon as possible?"

"You-Know-Who could get active again at any time, and he'll probably use dementors again."

"All right, we'll do Patronuses, then," Harry said hurriedly, looking overwhelmed. The twins and Lee cheered and shot to their feet while everyone else followed in a more subdued fashion.

Harry pulled out his wand and faced away from the fireplace, where there was more empty space. "All right, so first you have to think of something happy, the happiest thing you can think of. Then, while you're concentrating on that happy thought, you say the incantation, and if it's a strong enough thought, a Patronus will form. Like this."

Harry cast his mind around and settled on the memory of Draco visiting him over the summer.

"_Expecto patronum_!"

His silver stag burst from his wand and cantered to the fall wall, dissolving into silver mist as it started back.

"Wow," Draco murmured behind him.

"All right, then, split up and practice. Remember, the incantation is 'Expecto patronum,' and you have to be concentrating on something happy for it to work."

The others eagerly went off in their own directions as began practicing. Harry smiled as he began walking about, correcting a couple mistakes, watching their first feeble attempts with pride. The D.A. wouldn't be ready to do this for months.

After only a few minutes, Harry was surprised to hear an excited shout and turned to see who had made it. Lumbering towards him was a large silvery bear escorted by a grinning Blaise. Harry reached out instinctively to touch the bear, finding it to be rather like touching water without getting wet.

"Good job," he said with a grin at Blaise. "And you're the first one, too."

"I know." Blaise lowered his voice as he added with a smirk, "So does Draco."

Harry glanced over at his boyfriend. Draco looked thoroughly annoyed that he was only producing faint silver wisps rather than the magnificent Patronus Blaise had already managed and shot envious looks over at the black boy every so often. Harry smiled faintly and headed over, placing a light hand on Draco's arm.

"What are you thinking about?"

"First time I rode on a broom," Draco muttered. "What?" he added viciously when Harry's lips twitched.

"It's nothing, really. It's just, that's the first thing I thought of, too, when I first started learning."

Draco blinked and suddenly smiled. He turned away and concentrated on his wand again. "_Expecto patronum_!"

This time, a shining sliver animal shot out of his wand and padded a few steps before turning back. Harry could now see that it was a beautiful wolf; he heard Draco gasp beside him and glanced over to see that the blond looked surprised but satisfied.

"He's beautiful, Draco," Harry murmured, smiling as the wolf sat next to him and nudged at one of his hands with its nose. "What were you thinking of this time?"

"How we're so alike that we even thought of the same happy memory the first time," Draco answered. "We're meant for each other."

Harry blushed, but he felt that perhaps Draco had a point. The blond had been working himself to death for the past couple weeks to make up for his mistake at the Quidditch match, and Harry had found himself more readily forgiving him that he'd thought he would. He wasn't even sure now whether he was still mad at the Slytherin, or just stubbornly insisting that he was to save face. "I suppose..."

Draco smiled and leaned over to kiss him, but just then, a silvery shape swung between them accompanied by a shout of, "Hey, come back here!"

Gabrielle dashed between them a moment later, chasing after her chimp Patronus.

Harry watched her progress for a moment, then he turned back to Draco. "I'm going to go see how the others are doing, okay?"

"Okay." Draco gave him a brief kiss and headed over to Blaise to gloat. His wolf Patronus stayed at Harry's side.

"You going to come with me, then?" Harry asked the wolf, amused. The wolf cocked its head and looked at him curiously. Harry laughed and headed off. "All right, then, come on."

He laughed again when he saw Kiran and Angelo's Patronuses. A large silver tiger was running and leaping about, trying to catch one of the many shining bats flying around their heads. A second tiger suddenly appeared and joined Kiran's; Harry looked around and saw Dom standing by, watching them with a poorly hidden smile.

"Call him off, Kiran!" Angelo whined, hitting his boyfriend in the arm, though he was still laughing as he watched.

"He's just playing," Kiran said with a grin. "Funny how your Patronus is the prey here."

Angelo chuckled silkily, turning away from the silver animals to press his lips to Kiran's neck. "Only because I am already enough of a predator for both of us..."

Nearby, Fred and George's coyote Patronuses were chasing each other around in a circle while Lee's hyena sat back, laughing at them silently. The twins and Lee themselves were in a similar situation, though Fred and George were rolling about on the ground rather than chasing each other, while Lee looked torn between laughing and breaking them apart. Draco's wolf soon dashed over to join the coyotes and began paying with them enthusiastically.

"You should conjure yours again, Harry," Draco said behind him, making him jump. Harry shook his head as he leaned back against Draco when pale arms snaked around his waist.

"My Patronus would get eaten by all the predators around here," Harry answered, trying to joke but it came out as more of a moan as Draco had began pressing light kisses to the back of his neck.

"'Cause you're the most delicious looking thing in this room," Draco murmured huskily, making Harry shiver.

"Draco, there are people around..." Harry protested, though he still shifted so Draco would have better access to his neck.

"No one else seems to care," Draco murmured. Harry turned in his arms, not wanting to look at the others.

"How does conjuring Patronuses turn into snogging?" Harry said with a soft laugh just before he captured Draco's lips in a ardent kiss.

* * *

When Harry entered the SGC for their last meeting of term, it was to find that the cavern had been decorated for Christmas. He wasn't sure why; they'd already agreed that a Christmas party would be a bad idea this year, what with Umbridge lurking about and nearly everyone going home over the holidays anyway. And he was the first one there, so he couldn't ask anyone about it.

Gabrielle and Dominique came in next and, predictably, Gabi squealed in delight at the decorations. Dominique just shared an amused glance with Harry.

Next was Angelo, looking dangerous and quite upset, with Kiran and they didn't seem to notice the decorations at all. The twins walked in right after and looked around with brief, proud grins before heading over to the two Slytherins to see what they could do to help calm Angelo down.

Soon after, Lee came in with Blaise and Draco, and he'd obviously said something rather funny, because Blaise was laughing for the first time in months. Once they'd sat down, everyone looked at to the twins, since they'd been to ones to arrange this meeting. Fred turned away from Angelo with a brief whisper and grinned at the others.

"All right, so obviously, we thought that we should still have a Christmas party, even if none of us will be here for Christmas."

George nodded in agreement. "But then, I said to Fred, 'Why should we have a regular old Christmas party? We can do better than that.'"

"'Fine point, George,' I said. 'But what would we do? We can't do much to top last year's party.'"

"So, of course, I came up with the answer immediately. I said, 'Why don't we suggest we have a duelling tournament?'"

Kiran grinned immediately, a rather sadistic expression for him. "Excellent idea."

"We've also invited a couple people," Fred added, checking his watch. "They should be here pretty soon."

"Who?" Harry asked curiously.

"You'll see," George answered with a grin.

"How are we going to do this tournament, then?" Draco asked eagerly. "Is it going to take all day?"

"Probably. There's ten of us, right? So it'll take a while to eliminate everyone."

"What about whoever's coming?" Blaise asked curiously, his wand already out and in his lap.

"Nah, I think they're just going to watch–"

"Watch what?"

Harry looked over in surprise at the very familiar, perky voice from near the Hogsmeade tunnel and grinned at who it was.

"Oliver!"

"Hey," Oliver greeted with a grin, raising the hand that wasn't wrapped around Aaron's waist. "How have you all been?"

"Fine, great," Harry said distractedly, wondering if he should get up and go over to them or stay seated. Angelo, of course, had already headed over to greet Aaron. "Why you are guys here?"

"The twins invited us, and we couldn't refuse, seeing as you're not going to have a party during the holidays," Oliver answered with a slight shrug. He glanced over at Aaron, who was currently enthralled in his conversation with Angelo, and headed over to the others with a slight roll of his eyes.

"It's great to see you again," Harry said earnestly.

"Yeah. The Serpent Guard's grown a lot," Oliver remarked as he looked around. "Draco used to be the only Slytherin here."

"Well, we've only added Slytherins since you left," Draco said with a shrug.

"And Seamus," Harry hissed.

"Ah, yes, and Finnegan, but he's a prat, so he doesn't count."

Oliver didn't seem to care much about that. Rather, he grinned down at Harry, asking, "So, how's Quidditch been? Still winning every match?"

A couple months earlier, they all would have laughed at the obviousness of the question with the twins exclaiming that, yes, they were, and Draco sputtering indignantly that Harry had _not_ won every one of his matches. Now, however, silence permeated the room while they all tried to avoid everyone else's eyes, especially Draco's.

"Fred and George and I have been banned, Oliver," Harry finally murmured. The grin slid from Oliver's face to be replaced by a look of horror.

"_Banned_?" Oliver whispered, sounding much the way Angelina had when she'd found out. "What for?"

"We tried to beat Draco into a pulp after the first game, and Umbridge decided that we needed a lifelong ban rather than detention," Harry answered bitterly.

"Umbridge? But isn't McGonagall still–"

"Yeah, she's still Head of Gryffindor," George said. "But Umbridge can override her decisions on punishments."

"So she banned my Seeker and my Beaters?" Oliver exclaimed, outraged. "Just for beating someone up? _I_ knocked Mitchell Ellsworth out cold in my third year, and I only got a week of detentions and a hundred points off!"

All of the seventh years in the room snickered at that and Harry thought he heard Fred murmur wistfully, "I remember that," while his twin muttered, "We're not really _yours_ any more."

"Umbridge has a rather strong hatred of Harry, Oliver," Angelo said as he and Aaron walked over, the latter with a distasteful expression from the comment about Mitchell Ellsworth.

"Doesn't give her any excuse to ban my players!" Oliver answered.

"We aren't your players anymore, Oliver," George said patiently.

"I recruited you guys–"

"Actually, Charlie recruited us," Fred said. "You just got Harry and Katie."

"Hey, are we going to argue about some silly sport and a stupid woman all day, or are we going to have that tournament?" Blaise suddenly demanded, looking extremely impatient and annoyed. Harry had to stifle a laugh when Oliver immediately gained an affronted expression and opened his mouth to retaliate.

"Blaise is right," Dominique said, cutting off the Quidditch player. "We're wasting time arguing about this."

Oliver sent a glare in her direction but didn't argue; Harry suspected Aaron had something to do with that, though he couldn't tell what the man might be doing.

Fred nodded and he and his twin got to their feet. "What are you guys going to do?" he asked Aaron and Oliver first.

"I think we'll just watch," Aaron said.

"Alright." George clapped his hands together and grinned at the others. "So, we were thinking we should do this like a traditional tournament, rather than round-robin. That would take to long."

"Everyone will be paired up randomly, and after the first round, one person will have to take a bye, since we won't have an even number people," Fred continued.

"And we'll go until we've got one winner," George finished.

"How are you going to assign the pairs?" Blaise asked curiously.

Fred grinned slightly. "We found a spell that'll do it. Just look for the other person with your colour," he said before he flicked his wand. After a brief moment, Harry's vision was suddenly tinted red. Looking down at himself, he discovered his whole body was glowing red. Next to him, Draco glowed a steady light blue.

Relived that he wouldn't have to duel Draco yet, Harry looked around at the others. None of the other couples would have to face each other, either, though Kiran looked distinctly unhappy about this as he looked between his own yellow glow and Angelo's purple one. Harry spotted the other red person easily even before she came bouncing over to him.

"Ready to face me, Harry?" Gabrielle asked excitedly, her curls bouncing with her. "I'm not going to go down easily!"

"Neither am I," Harry said with a grin. He wasn't about to underestimate Gabrielle; after watching her in the SG for several months, he knew that she wasn't half as ditsy as she looked and acted.

"Alright then, who wants to go first?" Fred said as he ended the spell. Harry wasn't surprised when Gabrielle immediately raised her hand and dragged him forward.

"We do! We do!"

Fred nodded and had everyone else move out of the way while he banished the furniture back to the walls.

"This'll be either until one of you gives up or is unable to fight," Fred announced as Harry and Gabrielle moved to stand in the middle of the room. "You can use what ever spells you like as long as they're not the Unforgivable Curses or something that could cause enough damage to need Madam Pomfrey. Begin."

Harry and Gabrielle bowed to each other, and immediately Harry had to throw up a Shield Charm because the girl had tried to get him with his guard down.

Their duel lasted for quite a while, something for which Harry was immensely glad; it was extremely good practice for what was waiting for them outside Hogwarts. Eventually, however, Gabrielle gave up, saying that Harry was just to alert for her to take advantage of.

In the other duels, though, it became obvious that age and experience were valuable tools. Draco lost spectacularly to Dominique after only a few minutes, as did Blaise to Fred. Both fifth-years sulked as they watched the rest of the duels, though Harry had caught Draco a couple times looking less than upset while he watched. Kiran and Angelo, who were the oldest students in the room, also easily won their duels, though it was very close between Kiran and George for quite a while.

Fred cast the Random Selection Spell again to decide the opponents for the second round and Harry was secretly relieved when he and Dominique glowed gold because he wouldn't have to face either Angelo or Kiran yet, both of whom were glowing white. The two of them seemed rather pleased about this arrangement as well, although Harry noticed that Angelo's movements seemed a little less smooth and more nervous now.

Harry's duel with Dominique was uneventful, except that he won. The excitement started after that, with Kiran and Angelo's duel.

Harry knew something was off as soon Fred said only, "Begin," without the rules everyone else had been given for the last six duels. He didn't think the older boy had just gotten tired of stating them, which meant that for some reason they weren't going to apply to the two Slytherins. He felt that they probably should when he looked over and saw the sadistic grin on Kiran's face and Angelo's blood red eyes.

The two stared at each other without moving for some time after Fred's statement, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Then Kiran whispered, "_Evanesco_," with a flick of his wand and Angelo instantly blocked it with some charm that absorbed the spell rather than bounced it off, and they began.

Since they preformed many of the spells without speaking after that first one (Harry shuttered to think of what that Vanishing Spell would have done had it hit Angelo), Harry had no idea what most of them were. He did know, however, that he would not want to be hit by any of them, because the ones that got through their shields had rather gruesome effects. Kiran cast one that made Angelo slowly start bleeding from every pore of his body and only stopped after he'd cast _finite incantatem_ three times. Angelo had retaliated with one that made Kiran actually scream and drop to his knees; Draco whispered to him that it had probably been the Organ Freezing Curse, which did exactly what it sounded like. In fact, while Harry didn't recognize any of the spells, Draco seemed to know a lot of them and kept a running commentary under his breath. Harry wished a couple times that he wouldn't, since he hadn't wanted to know that most of these spells existed, much less witness them.

"And that's probably a Shock Spell," Draco whispered when Angelo suddenly screamed and jerked as though he'd been electrocuted. "Healers used to use them to treat mental patients, but it wasn't really effective."

"And supporters of the Appleby Arrows use to use that one when one of their Chasers scored," Draco murmured when a stream of arrows shot out of Angelo's wand and several struck Kiran in various places, "until it was banned for hurting a referee, of course."

Kiran scowled as he gently pulled the arrows, ten in all, out of his body, ignoring the fact that the he was now bleeding rather profusely. Instead, he raised his head up and began to sing.

Harry's breath caught in his throat; he'd never haerd anything so beautiful. Kiran's voice was flawless and gorgeous, a rich tenor that seemed unearthly in a way, and somehow it fit him perfectly though Harry knew there was no way his speaking voice sounded like that. He wasn't singing in Latin, or English either–the words sounded harsher than that–but a language just as beautiful when sung. He heard Draco gasp beside him, but couldn't bring himself to look over to see why.

He suddenly noticed that Kiran was glowing a bright white and wasn't bleeding anymore. In fact, the blood on his clothes slowly vanished and the holes in his clothes repaired themselves as Harry watched.

Then the song changed.

Harry wasn't sure what it was, since Kiran was still singing the same melody with the same words, but somehow it seemed darker and more malicious than before. Whatever it was made Angelo scream and fall to his knees shaking in pain. Light now surrounded him as well, though it was gold rather than white and it glittered ruthlessly around him. Yet after a few moments of watching Angelo, Harry had the feeling that the Vampire was only acting and that he wasn't really hurt at all, so he wasn't surprised when Angelo suddenly flicked his fingers and blasted Kiran off his feet and into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"Uh, I guess Angelo's the winner then," Fred said hesitantly, obviously as horrified by the duel as everyone else, but Angelo wasn't listening. He strode over to Kiran and revived him with a sweep of his hand.

"You cheated," Kiran hissed as he pushed himself to his feet. Angelo drew back the hand he had reached down to help and crossed his arms.

"I did not. You were foolish to think that Heaven's Light would work on me. I am not a demon, Kiran, any more than you are a god." Angelo raised an eyebrow. "A mistake made out of exhaustion, I think."

"It works on Vampires, though, just like your blood magic works on me," Kiran said with a scowl. "You should have felt something."

"I am not all Vampire, though; I am half-human and I know very well that Heaven's Light does not work on humans." Angelo smiled faintly and pressed a kiss to Kiran's temple. "Do remember that when you try to kill me in the future."

Harry stared at them, then turned to Draco. "What's 'Heaven's Light'? Was it supposed to kill Angelo?"

"No, Angelo knew what he was talking about; Heaven's Light doesn't work on humans. If he were a full-Vampire it might have hurt him a lot, though." Draco shook his head, looking slightly disturbed. "It's a spell that only the purest can cast, and it takes a lot of magic to use. Kiran probably would have passed out even if Angelo hadn't done it for him. It's supposed to destroy demons, and Vampires are closely related to demons."

"So was Kiran really trying to kill him?" Harry asked, extremely worried now. He'd thought the two older students had sorted out their differences the previous year.

"They were trying to kill _each other_, Harry," Draco answered softly. "Kiran started it, yes, but they did everything equally. Until the end, anyway."

"Harry," said Fred's voice. "It's our turn now. Angelo's going to take the bye this time."

Harry nodded and stood, taking a few deep breathes to calm down, since he was only facing Fred, after all, and not Angelo. As he and Fred bowed to each other, though, he couldn't help but to remember that whoever won this _would_ have to face the Vampire next.

And of course, he just had to win and be that lucky person. He'd almost lost to Fred on purpose, but he'd caught a glimpse of Aaron shaking his head at him though the older boy knew what he'd been thinking and he couldn't do anything but give it his all after that.

Now that he was standing across from Angelo, listening to George recite the rules of their duel, he wished he hadn't listened to Aaron at all. Angelo's eyes still hadn't lost their red colour from earlier and he was still coved in blood from one of Kiran's curses, so he was a rather frightening sight when one knew one was going to have to duel him. But he smiled and bowed when George said to start, something he hadn't done for his boyfriend.

"You do not need to look so nervous, Harry," Angelo said as they stood straight again.

"After your last duel, I think I have a good reason," Harry answered, trying to relax and failing miserably.

"I am not going to hurt you. I would never cast any of those spells on anyone in this room but Kiran," Angelo said. He shrugged when Harry looked at him dubiously and lowered his wand. "You could simply order me to lose, if you would like."

Harry gaped at him, his apprehension draining away. "Why would I do that? That's really like cheating."

Angelo merely smiled and nodded as he flicked his wand sending a jet of red light at Harry, who just barely managed to shield in time.

"_Expelliarmus!"_ Harry exclaimed, but Angelo dodged the spell easily. Silently, he flicked his wand again and sent another Stunner at Harry.

"You should at least say the spell out loud so he can block it, Angelo," Dominique said from the side lines when Harry barely blocked the spell again.

"Where is the fun in that? _Voros!_" Angelo said, using the absorption spell to eliminated Harry's Jelly-Legs Jinx.

"You could act like you're trying, too," Harry muttered, making sure to remember that last spell.

Angelo blinked and immediately looked slightly ashamed. "You are right. I should. _Impedimentia!_"

"_Protego! Petrificus Totalus!_"

"_Voros! Avis!"_

Harry blinked when a small flock of twittering birds flew out of Angelo's wand; what good would that do him? Then Angelo pointed his wand at Harry and commanded, "_Oppugno!"_

Harry yelped as the flock of birds bore down on his and began pecking at every bit of him they could reach. He threw his hands above his head to protect it and realized a moment later when Angelo's third Stunner flew at him that he'd left himself wide open.

Harry woke to find Angelo smiling down at him with his hand outstretched. He grinned back up at the older boy and accepted his help to get to his feet.

"Good duel," Harry said once he'd stood, using their clasped hands to shake Angelo's.

"Yes, it was. You are not bad for a fifth year," Angelo said. "Next time, though–"

"I won't let my guard down," Harry finished for him with a nod. "I know; that was stupid of me. I won't be tricked like that again."

"Good, then you have learned something. Duels are useless if you do not learn something."

"I didn't just learn that. _Vorus_!" Harry said, flicking his wand, but instead of forming an invisible vortex, a puff of smoke blew up in his face, covering him in ash. Harry glared at the others when they started laughing.

"I think perhaps we shall have to work on that, Harry," Angelo said with a laugh as he flicked his own wand and the ash vanished.

* * *

Harry waited for Ron's snores to permeate through the room for about five minutes before he risked lighting his wand and digging through his trunk for his IM scroll. As soon as he'd found it, he hurriedly penned his friends' names.

_Draco, Angelo, Kiran, Aaron_

**Harry! What's going on? Why weren't you at school today or yesterday?**

_I had to leave early. Are you all there?_

**_Yes, though Aaron is probably sleeping._**

Why weren't you at school?

Harry nodded to himself and immediately began telling them of the dream he'd had two nights before. After a moment of thought, he even included the fact that he had been the snake in the dream, rather than an outside observer, as he felt that his allies deserved to know the truth.

_So now I'm at Sirius' house. Everyone's asleep right now, so we can talk for as long as we need._

Don't say that. Angelo'll keep you up 'til dawn.

_**I will not!**_

You will. I'm practically nocturnal because of you.

_Is Mr Weasley alright, Harry?_

Harry blinked at Aaron's handwriting, then decided it wasn't important that he was awake when they'd thought he wouldn't be. _Yeah, they found him in time. He's at St. Mungo's now. There was some kind of anticoagulant in the snake venom, so he's still bleeding, but he seemed okay other than that when we visited him yesterday._

_I'm glad. Mr Weasley has been very nice to me since I started work, even though we're in different departments. As long as I don't mention Oliver or Angelo, anyway._

_What? Why? They're alright._

_**The Weasleys are not very fond of me.**_

**And they're not known to be the most tolerant family when it comes to homosexuality.**

_Why don't they like you, Angelo? They like Lupin well enough. And the twins like you._

_**Werewolves and vampires are treated a little differently in the wizarding community. And it is because of Fred and George that they do not like me. They did not like that the twins wished to be my donors. I do not think that they know they are at the moment, in fact.**_

_Well, they'd better get used to you eventually._

_**I am sure they will. Now, do you know how you could have been the snake in the dream? You did not leave Hogwarts until after it had ended.**_

Harry stared at that. _How do you know that?_

_**I have Fed from you before, and I am blood-bonded to you. I am able to sense your presence whenever you are within a mile of me.**_

_Can you do that with all your donors?_

_**Yes, I can do that with anyone I choose, actually, but it is stronger if I have a connection to the person.**_

Anyway, you didn't leave your bed. How'd you have this dream?

_The Or–others think it's because of my connection to Voldemort, same as my other dreams._

_**Yes, that is rather likely.**_

_And if that's the case, there's nothing we can do to stop them. Voldemort's too good at blocking his mind._

_I didn't think there would be. I just thought you ought to know that this happened._

_**You were right. Thank you for telling us, Harry.**_

_No problem._ Not feeling particularly sleepy, Harry cast his mind about for something to discuss, landing on something Hermione had mentioned earlier that day._ So, how angry _was_ Umbridge about us leaving early?_


	13. Part III Ch XI The Silver Ring

Background Secrets

Part III: Fifth Year

Chapter XI: The Silver Ring

Three days before Christmas, Harry had just sat down to breakfast when Thiassi swooped into the kitchen and dropped an elaborate envelope onto his empty plate. The kitchen fell silent as the owl flew out again. Harry stared at the envelope in horror, unwilling to pick it up for fear that his real name would be on it. Why would Draco be writing to him here?

Fred and George grinned, though; obviously they knew what was going on. "Open it, Harry! Go on!"

Harry glanced at them warily before he turned the envelope over with hesitant fingers. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was addressed to "Ahren" and not "Harry" like last year's card. Feeling a little less apprehensive about it now, he slit open the top and pulled the card out with a small gasp.

He hadn't thought it possible before, but this card was more beautiful than the last one. The image on the outside he easily recognized as being the garden from the Yule Ball, though it didn't seem to be in front of Hogwarts. This garden also had many more fairy lights, and a light dusting of the snow still falling, but the statue was still a stag and a bench still sat nearby it.

The inside was so brilliant Harry didn't even notice a small parchment fall to his lap when he opened the card. It was a brilliantly lit ballroom glittering with gold and finery; he suspected it actually sat in Malfoy Manor and was very keen on visiting Draco there sometime if he could just see this room. The picture panned about as he moved the card, so he could see every bit of the room, including several tables set up along one part of the wall and a door that led out to the garden. He was slightly disappointed when he looked over the whole card and didn't see any people, though.

"Read what it says, Harry," Fred urged with a grin. Harry sent him a dirty look; he'd been hoping the twins hadn't noticed the silver writing on the inside.

"I'll read it later–"

"No, no, we should all hear it," George said, snatching the card out of Harry's hands. Harry grabbed at it, panicking–he didn't want them all to hear that!–but George had already moved out of his reach and began reading in what started out as a dramatic voice:

_Dew drops upon a summer rose,_

_A gift held dear in the mists of autumn._

_Wintry strands form a silver ring,_

_Never melting even in spring rains._

_Then again a summer meeting waits,_

_For the one loved throughout the year._

_And again a winter dance swirls round,_

_Embracing the one always beloved._

_A meeting in the wake of returning,_

_Has become an event for the ages._

Harry had to cover his face halfway through to hide how affected he really was by the words, but he looked up once George was finished and no one laughed. The twins were smirking knowingly, but every other face looked horrified, their eyes either staring at the card or at Harry.

"Give me that," Harry snapped, snatching the card out of George's hand. He saw immediately that the inside had changed; the ballroom was now draped in decorations in white and green and two figures were traversing the floor in a complicated dance, two figures he instantly recognized as Draco and himself. He hoped desperately that they would stay inside the card and not venture out into the garden.

"Harry," Ron said slowly, "that's from Rast, right?"

Harry was suddenly very aware of his godfather's eyes fixed sharply on him. "Yeah, I think so. That was his owl."

"Has he said anything...odd in any of his letters lately?"

Harry frowned, suddenly very curious as to what the Weasleys knew about all this. "No, why?"

"Harry, he's getting married," Ron said in a choked voice.

Harry's eyes widened and he stared down at the card again. "W-what?"

"I'm sure of it. It's one of those things you learn growing up, and that sounds like an invitation to a wedding ceremony to me." Ron eyed the card critically. "Looks like one, too."

"I wouldn't know," Harry said in what he hoped was a bewildered tone and not a panicky one.

"But hasn't–"

"I'll write to him and ask about it," Harry said quickly as he grabbed the envelope to put the card away. It was then that he noticed the parchment sitting on his lap. Hastily, he slid that back into the card and stuffed both back into the envelope. Then he looked politely over at the woman staring open mouthed at him. "What's for breakfast, Mrs Weasley?"

As soon as breakfast was over, Harry raced up the stairs two at a time and locked the door behind him once he reached the room he was sharing with Ron, not keen on having his best friend asking him more questions about the card. He knew that wouldn't keep the twins out, but he didn't care; he wanted answers from them.

He flopped down on his bed and took the card out again, admiring it for a moment before pulling out the slip of parchment. He scanned over it quickly, a blush slowly growing darker on his cheeks as he read.

_Harry,_

_I know you're probably mad that I sent this to you while you're around the Weasleys, but I had to send it today or it would be useless._

_I'd like to meet with you the first Monday after we get back from holidays. It'll be like having our own Christmas/New Years. We should exchange presents that day too, rather than in three days. I have something really special to give you, and I have to give it in person._

_Whatever the Weasleys have told you, I'm not getting married. I'm still yours only. Even if I have to marry for political reasons, I'll never love anyone but you. So ignore those stupid Weasleys; they don't know what they're talking about._

_I'll assume that Thiassi will not stay for a reply, so I'll assume also that you've said yes and wait anxiously for holidays to end._

_I love you,_

_Draco_

_P.S. What do you think of the card? I made this one too._

"So, what's it say?" Fred's voice suddenly asked, making Harry jump an inch off the bed. He hadn't expected the twins to actually use the door.

"Is he getting married?" George added as they sat on the bed next to him.

"No," Harry answered, handing them the letter. Then he glanced back at the card. "Is this really an invitation for a wedding?"

"Could be, it has all the right elements," Fred said with a shrug.

"The four seasons, gifts, love, and reference to the event itself," George clarified as his eyes scanned the letter.

"But probably not. I can't see Malfoy as being sappy enough to write something like that."

"I don't know; I think last year's card was worse than this," Harry said with a faint smile. Both twins stared at him.

"There was a card last year?"

Harry nodded and pulled the card out from under his pillow to show them. It looked as magnificent as ever; Harry suspected Draco had charmed it to stay perfect no matter what.

Fred made a face as he read the inside. "You're right, that's way worse."

"Enlightening, though," George commented once he'd read it as well."

Harry stared at him incredulously. "It's enlightening?"

"Well, this is obviously inviting you to our Yule Ball last year, right."

"And you two got together there, by Draco's request, I believe."

"So maybe this is the same idea.

Harry gaped at them, and then back at the second card. "So now Draco wants to...marry me?"

"Not marry," Fred corrected. "Bond."

"Same sex couples can't 'marry' in the wizarding world," George added, looking distinctly disappointed by this.

"Absolutely not!"

They all turned to find Sirius standing in the doorway, eyes narrowed in fury. Sirius shut the door behind him as he stepped inside, which, rather than comforting Harry, made him rather ill at ease.

"I will not have my godson bonded to Draco Malfoy, of all people!" Sirius announced, his tone trying to leave no room for argument.

Harry frowned, automatically feeling defensive even though he had no idea what he really wanted yet. "But you like Draco alright, and you're related."

"It doesn't matter whether I like him, or whether he's family," Sirius growled in exasperation. "His father is a Death Eater, Harry. You can't join a family like that!"

"Draco's not his father, Sirius. You know that."

"Draco's not protected from his father, either. You could easily be killed."

"Malfoy would protect Harry from that," Fred said cautiously.

Sirius shook his head. "You don't know Lucius Malfoy. He doesn't care about his son. He'd kill Draco to get to Harry without a second thought. Knowing him, he probably has several bastard children somewhere that could serve as heirs instead of Draco if needed, so he wouldn't think it was a great loss."

"I know that," Harry said calmly. "I also haven't said whether I want to bond with him or not. We don't even know if that really is what he wants."

Sirius frowned slightly. "I'd still rather you didn't do it. You're too young, and it's too dangerous."

"I thought the risk would have been fun for you," Harry said sarcastically. Sirius's eyes narrowed at him.

"I'm serious, Harry."

Harry sighed and held his hands up in defeat. "All right, if he asks, I'll tell him it'll have to wait."

Sirius nodded once and suddenly grinned. "If you two decided to bond anyway, I couldn't think of a better person for you to spend your life with."

"Thanks," Harry murmured, blushing at the thought. Sirius chuckled and waved as he left, whistling some carol.

"So, we get to blow up the cake at your ceremony, right?" Fred asked. Harry chucked his pillow at the twins as they Apparated from the room, grinning.

* * *

After the mass breakout from Azkaban, the change in Neville was profound as soon as the first D.A. meeting of the new year. Outside of the D.A., he'd become even more quiet and reserved than normal, while he grew exponentially better in just one meeting, hardly talking except to cast a spell. Harry watched this reaction to the breakout closely for a couple days and decided to act on something he'd been thinking about since Christmas.

"Hey, Neville," Harry called before the other boy could leave the meeting, "could I talk to you for a moment?"

Neville hung back nervously as the rest of the students left. Harry smiled at Ron and Hermione's confused expressions and shook his head, indicating that he didn't want them to wait for him. Once he and Neville were alone, he asked the room for a sofa and led his roommate over to it.

"You did really good today," Harry complimented as they sat down. "Better than Hermione, even, I'd say."

"Thanks," Neville murmured with a very faint smile. Harry relaxed slightly; that was the first pleasant expression he'd seen on Neville's face since Tuesday.

"Listen, Neville, can you keep a secret?" Harry asked seriously.

Neville blinked in surprise and nodded. "Sure, Harry."

"Even from Ron and Hermione and anyone else that doesn't know?"

Neville frowned and studied his feet, thinking it over, before he nodded again. "If it means that much to you, I can do that."

"I knew I could count on you," Harry said with a relieved smile. He paused for a moment, wondering where the best place to start would be, and finally decided on the heart of the whole matter. "It's sort of about who I like. Not Cho," he added quickly. "That's a big part of it, anyway."

"Who is it?" Neville asked curiously, clearly thankful to be talking about something so normal and seemingly innocent.

Harry braced himself as he murmured, "Draco Malfoy."

Neville paled and stared at Harry in horror. "You mean...the one in Slytherin? _That_ Draco Malfoy?"

"Is there another one?"

"But...but he's a boy!"

"Yeah, he is," Harry said, blushing faintly. "And you'd better believe he never lets me forget that."

"And I thought you hated each other!"

Harry smiled and shook his head. "Draco and I have secretly been friends for over two years now."

"Two _years_?" Neville choked out. Harry just nodded silently. Neville gaped at him, then suddenly gained a dark look. "That's awful, Harry."

"What?" Harry asked, startled.

"You've been friends with Malfoy for two years and you've never stopped him from bullying us every chance he gets? That's really low."

Harry smiled ruefully. "Yes, that's what Fred and George said when they found out."

Now it was Neville's turn to look startled. "The twins know?"

"And Seamus and Lee." Harry sighed. "Look, Neville, I know it's horrible of me to let him act like that still, but that's all it is: an act on both our parts. We don't have any other choice. If it ever got out that we're close, his father will kill him or worse. Although," Harry added thoughtfully, "I really was, and still am, furious about what happened at the Quidditch match."

Neville frowned and looked away, taking it all in. Finally, he asked in a hesitant, embarrassed voice, "You said you...like him?"

Harry nodded with a smile. "We're actually boyfriends. He asked me out last year. We've...been together for a year," he murmured, instinctively reaching up to touch the hidden Emotion Necklace.

"You're _boyfriends_?" Neville whispered, sounding strangled again.

"We got together at New Years last year." Harry laughed softly. "I hadn't realized it was that long. Bet he remembered. I don't think my present's good enough now..."

"What's that?" Neville asked curiously, eyeing the spot where Harry was still absently fingering his invisible necklace. Harry's fingers closed reflexively around the pendant.

"Um, well, it was Draco's birthday present," Harry murmured, suddenly very embarrassed, though he still pulled out his wand. "You'll probably know what it is. _Aparecium_."

Neville gasped softly when the necklace appeared, its colours currently swirling blue and orange. "That's an Emotion Necklace..."

Harry nodded as he looked down at it with a fond smile. "He's so lazy. It's not even ten yet and he's fast asleep."

Neville gaped at it for another moment. "He must be really serious about you..."

"He is," Harry murmured, blushing slightly as he remembered the Christmas card he'd gotten. "Too serious, sometimes..."

"Why do you keep it hidden?"

Harry eyed Neville incredulously. "Are you kidding? You're not the only pureblood in our dorm; what do you think Ron would say if he saw it? He's already been wondering where I keep disappearing to. He'd probably think I've been hoodwinked into some courting ritual that's really a Death Eater trap."

Neville obviously thought that was more likely than Draco actually being sincere as well, but he didn't say so. Instead he asked hesitantly, "And Malfoy doesn't care that you keep it hidden? I would have thought he'd want you to display it so you could annoy Ron with it or something."

Harry shook his head, that fond smile touching his lips again. "Draco's the one who looked up the spell to hide it in the first place."

Neville stared at him in awe, plainly finding it difficult to accept all this.

"Anyway," Harry said after concealing the necklace again, "that isn't really what I wanted to talk to you about. Two years ago, the twins, Draco, and I started a club called the Serpent Guard, or the SG. It's sort of a Gryffindor-Slytherin alliance, though we've had Hufflepuffs in it, too." Harry paused, forcing back the memory of Cedric sitting among them for the previous year and a half.

"And you want me to join?" Neville asked, not looking too keen about the idea.

Harry nodded. "We used to just meet and talk or study, but this year we decided to do similar stuff to the D.A. I thought you might be interested in that."

"What do you mean by 'similar'? You're not learning Dark Arts, are you?"

Harry winced and shook his head. He wouldn't doubt that all of the Slytherins in the group knew Dark Arts, Angelo and Kiran especially since they hadn't used much else in their duel before holidays, but he'd never allow them to teach that magic. "No, we're not, and we never will be. We've been doing defensive stuff, like the D.A., only more advanced since most of the SG are seventh years. We've been working on learning wandless magic recently, and we hit Patronuses a couple months ago."

"Then why do you want me?" Neville asked, hopelessly bewildered. "I'm not anything special. I can barely do what you've been teaching us in the D.A."

"You did pretty well today," Harry pointed out. Neville flushed in embarrassment.

"I don't know; it still wasn't as good as you."

"I've known these spells since last year, too," Harry answered. "You just have a confidence problem; you always do fine if you're sure of yourself."

"I still don't see why you want me," Neville said. "Especially if Malfoy's there. He hates me."

Harry shook his head. "He doesn't hate you, Neville."

"But–"

"He's supposed to hate you, yes, since he's a Slytherin and his father's a Death Eater, and you're a Gryffindor and, well..." Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "He's supposed to hate me too, but he doesn't. He's jealous of you, actually."

Neville blinked. "Malfoy's jealous...of me?"

"Yeah, you have a higher mark in Herbology than him. I don't think he'd mind if I brought you to a meeting, especially if I told him to leave you alone. He'd probably drag you off to tutor him or something, actually."

Neville still looked astonished that he was actually better than Draco in a class.

"So, do you want to come?" Harry asked after a long moment of silence. Neville shifted as though to nod, then frowned and rethought his answer.

"Who else besides you and Malfoy and the twins are in this club?"

Harry listed off their names and was surprised to see Neville pale considerably at Angelo's.

"Angelo Haemon's in your club?" Neville whispered, eyes wide.

"Yeah, since the beginning of last year. Why? Has he given you trouble before? I can stop that–"

"Harry, he's a Vampire," Neville murmured fearfully.

Harry stared at him in shock. "How do you know that?"

"You know?" Neville said, his voice suddenly a pitch higher. "Then why are you friends with him?"

"Because I don't care if he's a Vampire. I knew him for a year before he told me, and it didn't change a thing. Like with Professor Lupin, actually." Harry frowned slightly, feeling rather protective of his older friend. He owed Angelo a lot, after all; the least he could do was defend him. "How do you know what he is?"

"Ron complains about him a lot when he gets back from patrolling the halls," Neville muttered, looking away. "Stuff about him not following the rules, and Feeding on his donors whenever he feels like it, and corrupting his brothers. I don't think he ever meant to mention that Haemon's a Vampire; it just slipped out." Neville looked back at him in confusion. "How can you not care what he is? Vampires are evil."

"Angelo's not."

"Well, maybe he's different, but other Vampires are. They don't follow our laws, unless we completely refuse them something, like wands. They're not like werewolves. They're a completely different race."

"Which is why they're not allowed wands, because they're not 'human'," Harry said, suddenly understanding what this was all about. It sounded like the same kind of prejudice that surrounded giants. No wonder Angelo had waited a year to tell him about his true nature.

"Exactly," Neville said, relieved that Harry seemed to finally understand. "It's the same thing as with the giants. They're dangerous, and they don't care if they kill when they Feed. We'd all be dead by now if they didn't insist of keeping to themselves."

"Does everyone think that about them?" Harry asked, appalled by this attitude.

Neville stared at him for a moment, then flushed slightly. "I keep forgetting you grew up with Muggles. Yes, everyone who grew up in the wizarding world knows that, if they're not mental."

Harry frowned, feeling defensive again. "Angelo's half-human too, you know. And Dumbledore must think he'd alright to let him come here."

"Dumbledore accepts _everyone_ though," Neville protested. "Vampires are just...they're really scary, even on good days."

Harry sighed and wished Angelo were here to prove Neville wrong. He wasn't 'scary'; maybe a little creepy sometimes, but he was quite congenial if one could look past that. "So, I guess you won't want to come to the SG, then?"

Neville bit his lip and looked away. "I don't know, Harry. I don't think I'd fit in, and you'd probably throw me out eventually. And I don't really want to be in the same room as a Vampire for that long..."

"I wouldn't throw you out," Harry said immediately. "And Angelo won't hurt you, I swear. I'd stop him if he tried, and Kiran would likely castrate him. You know who Kiran is, right?"

"Kiran Erebos? Yeah, Ron complains about him almost as much." Neville screwed up his face in an imitation of Ron when he was angry. "'Stupid Erebos, supposed to be a prefect, but he disregards the rules as much as that Haemon...letting him Feed in the halls, could anything be more disgusting...' Ron doesn't think much of him."

It was certainly news to Harry that Kiran was a prefect–he'd never seemed the type, and he wondered if maybe Dominique was one also–but his surprise was overridden by his annoyance at Ron. "Well, Kiran's pretty jealous, too, and he hates it when Angelo tries anything with anyone other then him. He keeps Angelo in check."

Neville frowned slightly. "No one else would want me to come..."

"Sure they would." Harry grinned reassuringly. "You're a great guy, Neville. They'll like you just fine."

Neville sighed and nodded, though he didn't seem too thrilled. "I'll come, maybe just one time to see, as long as you're sure about Haemon..."

"I'm positive," Harry answered. "Alright, so you know that mirror on the fourth floor? Meet me there at two this Saturday."

Neville looked shocked for a moment. "That soon?"

"Yeah, Draco was pretty insistent that we meet last Monday or next Monday, but I'm busy on Mondays now, so we decided on Saturday, instead." Harry made a slight face. "He's so confusing sometimes."

"So, this Saturday?" Neville said to check, looking not a little reluctant.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it, Neville; you'll be glad you came."

* * *

Harry cursed again under his breath when he nearly collided with a third year as he rounded a corner. He ran through the halls so fast he was sure people were staring, but he couldn't bring himself to care; he was late, horribly late, and Draco was going to be either furious or out of his mind with worry, and Neville may have already left, thinking it was all a joke.

Harry glared at the library when he passed it. It was Hermione's fault he was so late; she'd cornered him on the way out of the common room, asking far too many questions. He'd answered a few of them, but most he'd ignored or said flat out he wouldn't answer; after all, she didn't need to know where he was at all times, nor did she need to know who he was meeting when he disappeared. Eventually, he'd told her that he was late and left without another word. She was probably still standing stunned in the common room.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he turned a corner and saw Neville waiting next to the mirror up ahead.

"H-hey, sorry...I'm late," Harry gasped out as he stopped next to the mirror.

"I-it's alright," Neville murmured. He was wringing his hands and shifting back and forth on his feet, eyes darting about nervously.

Harry smiled as best he could as he gasped for air. "It'll be okay, Neville. Only...you might want to know that we're not really...discreet, sometimes..."

"Th-that's okay," Neville answered, though he looked even more nervous now.

Harry nodded and pulled out his wand to tap the mirror. "_Admoveo infraterra._ Follow me."

Harry looked around the moment he stepped though to mirror, or he did for the split second before Draco grabbed him and tugged him into a deep kiss. He heard a strangled yelp behind him and hazily felt sorry for Neville.

Draco eyed the second Gryffindor with distaste when he pulled away from Harry. "What is he doing here?" he hissed into Harry's ear.

Harry's eyes narrowed slightly. "Draco..."

Draco glared at him, looking immensely jealous, but when he spoke again it was with a much kinder tone. "All right, why is Longbottom here, Harry."

"Neville's here because I asked him to come," Harry answered, making sure to speak loud enough so everyone could hear the warning edge to his voice. "Be nice to him," he added in a hiss to Draco.

Draco gained an affronted look but surprisingly didn't protest. Even more surprisingly, he stepped around Harry and held a hand out to the wide-eyed boy behind him. "Welcome to the SG, Longbottom."

Harry smiled when Neville tentatively took the offered hand. "Thanks, Malfoy."

Draco nodded once and turned back to Harry. "You're late."

"I know; I'm sorry. Hermione cornered me," Harry said as Draco began steering them over to the rest of the group.

"You should have cursed her, then," Draco answered as though it was obvious.

"Oh yeah, that'll keep her from getting suspicious about me. Come on, Neville," he added to the boy still hovering by the mirror. Neville started and hesitantly followed them. Harry gave him a reassuring smile and looked around again. "Angelo's not here yet?"

"No, we were starting to think maybe Umbridge had done something, since you were both missing."

"Maybe Umbridge did do something," Harry said as he sat down next to Draco, and was greatly surprised when he was allowed to stay there. Neville glanced around, looking a little less nervous now, and finally sat next to Blaise, who immediately struck up a conversation with him.

"I hope not," Draco said. "If she comes after him again, he might kill her."

Harry made a slight face. "I wouldn't doubt it." Then he suddenly blinked and stared at Draco. 'What are you wearing?"

Draco just smiled. Instead of his usual Hogwarts robes, he'd donned fancy dark green dress robes with about a hundred silver buttons closing it from his collar to his feet. At his throat and each sleeve cuff sat three larger buttons, each with the Malfoy family crest on it. The fact that he'd started growing his hair out a bit more seemed obvious now as well, though Harry didn't remember noticing it before.

"You'll understand later," Draco answered, taking one of Harry's hands to kiss it. "I have to wait until sunset to tell you. We can wait until then to exchange presents, too."

Harry frowned in confusion, but before he could ask about it, Kiran jumped to his feet and rushed forward. Harry glanced over; Angelo was now standing just inside the mirror, smiling but obviously embarrassed for being so late, and next to him stood–

"Luna?" Harry and Neville exclaimed at the same time.

Luna smiled vaguely at them, her large silvery eyes looking even stranger in the dim light of the cavern. "Hello, Harry, Neville."

Harry wasn't sure what mystified him more: the fact that Luna was here, or the fact that she seemed perfectly comfortable standing next to Angelo and Kiran.

"Er, what are you doing here?" Harry asked dumbly, although it was perfect clear that Angelo had brought her.

"Angelo asked me to come," Luna answered airily, smiling up at the older boy. "He knows I don't have many friends, but he saw me talking to you the other day and thought I might like to come."

"How do you know...Haemon?" Neville asked. Harry glanced over at him; his face was drawn and pale, and he was staring at Angelo with wide eyes.

"Like is drawn to like," Luna said vaguely. Her eyes travelled across the room, pausing on no one in particular.

"Do you know of me, Longbottom?" Angelo enquired, his tone light and neutral. He smiled bitterly when Neville only nodded, obviously petrified to be talking to a Vampire. "I am not surprised."

"One of my friends talks about you a lot," Neville muttered, pointedly leaving out which friend.

Angelo nodded, looking resigned. "Yes, that is what I thought."

"I always wondered what the Headmaster was thinking, making Weasley a prefect," Kiran muttered, thoroughly annoyed with the whole conversation. "He can't keep his mouth shut."

"I do not mind so much," Angelo said with a slight shrug. "He already knew anyway."

The two Slytherins and Luna moved stepped forward, though only Luna sat down, choosing the spot next to Neville. Neville himself looked terrified that Angelo was still standing, as though he thought it would be easier for the Vampire to attack him that way.

"So, what are we doing today?" Draco asked, sounding annoyed and impatient, yet when Harry looked over, he appeared completely calm.

"What we were doing the last time we met, before the tournament," Angelo answered, "basic spells wandlessly. None of you are good enough to move on yet."

Harry sighed inwardly; he'd been hoping they would work on something new, like that Absorption Spell Angelo seemed so fond of. He still hadn't gotten the hang of clearing his mind for longer than a few seconds. Angelo had told him it was nothing to worry about, as many wizards were unable to do it, but he felt frustrated with himself. And he needed to be able to clear his mind now more than ever, now that he had to learn Occlumency.

He glanced over at Neville, who seemed extremely lost, and suddenly felt that maybe he had a way out of this. "Angelo, Neville hasn't been doing this stuff. Can I teach him something else?"

Neville sent him a thankful smile, but it disappeared when Angelo answered immediately, "No, you need this practice, Harry."

"I'll do it!" Gabrielle offered enthusiastically.

Harry watched her jealously as Angelo agreed and she bounced over to Neville. Out of all of them, she was the closest to moving on to the harder spells and could afford to take a day off. Draco sent him a sympathetic glance as Neville was tugged to his feet and dragged off to a more private part of the cavern by the hyperactive Slytherin blonde.

Everyone else seemed to take this as the signal to start working and headed off in separate directions. Luna looked around for a moment, then drifted over to join Gabrielle and Neville. Draco grabbed one of Harry's hands again and promised with another kiss that he'd come back when it was time. Soon, Kiran moved to observe and correct the others, but Angelo didn't follow him; he walked over to Harry and took Draco's abandoned seat instead.

Harry looked over at Angelo in confusion. The Slytherin seemed tired and troubled, though he was attempting to hide it. No one else might have noticed it, but somehow, Harry could always tell how Angelo was feeling; he blamed it on the blood bond.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked after a moment of silence.

Angelo smiled faintly. "You are very perceptive. I will be fine."

"Is it Neville?" Harry murmured, glancing nervously at his dorm mate. "I'm sorry; I didn't realize he'd be so..."

"Prejudiced?" Angelo suggested. He shook his head with a sigh. "You are very rare in your acceptance of me, Harry. Most other wizards act like that initially, and many never come to accept what I am. I am used to it."

"It isn't right. You're not that much different from everyone else."

"My kind is. The ones that wizards encounter anyway." Angelo shrugged. "As I said, I am used to it. Sometimes it is hard, especially when I have never met a person and he already hates me, but that is life. I did not come over here to talk about Vampire rights; I came to help you clear your mind."

Harry sighed, looking at him hopelessly. "I can't do it. I can't even keep it clear for ten seconds, much less a minute."

"I do not believe that. I am sure you are able, but something is stopping you."

Harry glanced over at Draco, absently thinking that he looked beautiful lit up by the _lumos_ spell in his hands. "Something, yeah."

Angelo smiled faintly as his eyes followed Harry's line of sight. "Ah, I see. So, what happens when you try to clear your mind?"

"I...well...I'm able to clear it for a few seconds. Then some memory of Draco or a...a thought of him shows up and I can't concentrate on much else."

"Hmm." Angelo thought for a moment and nodded once. "It may be left over from the Insularis Rite. Aaron mentioned it to me once," he explained when Harry glanced at him in surprise.

"So, what do you mean that it might be from that?" Harry asked.

"Well, he said that you were under it for quite a long time, almost exactly four months. The bonding process may have already started by the time you two made up." Angelo gestured vaguely. "What with that and what Draco's doing now, I am not surprised you have been unable to clear your mind sufficiently."

"What do you mean 'what Draco's doing now'?" Harry demanded. Angelo's eyes widened and he gained a distinctly 'caught-with-a-hand-in-the-cookie-jar' look.

"I promised him I would not say anything. He wants it to be a surprise," Angelo answered quickly. "Anyway, if this is because of the Insularis, there is not much that can be done except go back in time two years and convince your past selves to make up faster."

Harry eyed him suspiciously, annoyed that Angelo wouldn't tell him what Draco was planning. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I do not know," Angelo answered, shaking his head. "But I was thinking about it over the holiday and I think that I may be able to help, but you will have to trust me."

"I trust you," Harry answered immediately. How could he not? If Angelo tried anything funny, he could just order the older teen to stop.

Angelo nodded and looked him straight in the eyes. "**Your mind is blank. You have no thoughts, no feelings. You are calm and void of all thought.**"

The effect was immediate; Harry's eyes glazed over and he stared at Angelo expressionlessly. A few thoughts of Draco tried to pass through his mind, but he paid them no attention and they soon stopped.

"**Wake up**," Angelo suddenly commanded. Harry blinked and shook his head, almost throwing off his glasses.

"That was really weird," he muttered once he stopped. "I've got to learn how you do that."

"It is a gift of my people," Angelo answered with a shrug. "I am just particularly good at it."

"How long was that?" Harry asked.

"I kept you like that for a minute, so you could get used to it. I think that now that you have felt what it is really like, you will be able to accomplish a clear mind with more ease."

Harry nodded and looked away at the opposite wall, determined to get it right. "I think I'll practice on my own now. Thanks."

"It was my pleasure," Angelo answered as he stood. He bowed once to Harry and left to join Kiran.

Harry stretched once, then relaxed and closed his eyes. He was sure he could clear his mind this time.

After a couple hours, he'd finally managed to keep his mind clear for twenty seconds when a hand tapped him on the shoulder. His annoyance at being interrupted dissolved instantly when he looked up to find Draco standing in front of him, hand outstretched.

"Come on, it's time to go," Draco said, sounding more excited that Harry could remember.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked as he took Draco's hand and pulled himself to his feet. He smiled when Draco refused to let go of his hand, instead using it to pull Harry toward the Hogsmeade tunnel.

"Hogsmeade," Draco answered vaguely. "I want to take you to dinner."

Harry blinked and glanced around; most of the other SG members were already gone. "What time is it?"

"Almost four," Draco said with a shrug.

Harry tried to stop, but Draco was far too insistent that they leave. "We can't go out to dinner! We have to eat in the Great Hall! People are going to get suspicious."

"The twins and Blaise are going to cover for us." Draco paused at the entrance to the tunnel and turned back to him. "Please, Harry? I promise, you don't have to worry about anything. I just want to take you out to dinner and exchange presents."

"How many people know about this?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Enough to keep us out of trouble," Draco answered, his eyes still pleading.

Harry sighed; those eyes were really going to be the death of him. "All right, but you'd better be paying. I don't have any money with me."

Draco's lit up in a grin and he pressed a kiss to Harry's temple before starting off again. Harry had no choice but to follow, as Draco still held his hand in a death grip.

"Why are we having dinner in Hogsmeade?" Harry asked after a few minutes. To his surprise, Draco blushed faintly and suddenly looked very embarrassed.

"Well, we've really only been on one date, even though we've been together for year," Draco murmured, not meeting Harry's eyes. "I thought it was about time for another one."

"Oh." Harry flushed as well, yet he couldn't help but think that Draco was hiding something.

After another few minutes, Draco asked about how he'd been doing with clearing his mind, and the topic of wandless magic carried them down the whole tunnel, up the stairs, and through Zonko's into Hogsmeade itself.

Harry glanced toward the west once they were on the street and frowned slightly; the sun didn't look close to setting. Hadn't Draco said something about having to wait until sunset? Draco didn't seem to notice that the sun was still up, however; he turned right and guided Harry down the street toward the Three Broomsticks.

Harry blushed when they entered the tavern; he'd just remembered that their hands were still linked and he was sure everyone would stare at two teenage boys walking in holding hands. Draco obviously didn't care about anyone else, as he didn't let go of Harry's hand even when Harry shook it to get him to let go. He led Harry over to one of the booths and waited for Harry to sit before he did, only then letting the brunet's hand go.

Madam Rosmerta walked up a moment later, eyeing them guardedly. "You boys know that it's not a weekend for students, don't you?"

"We got permission from Dumbledore," Draco answered, and to Harry's amazement, he produced a slip of parchment from one of his pockets and handed it to Madam Rosmerta. She looked it over and flushed slightly.

"I'm sorry, boys," she said as she slipped the parchment into a pocket of her robes. "Albus doesn't often let students come to Hogsmeade when it's not a weekend for it. I suppose I should learn that any that are here have his permission."

"It's alright, Madam Rosmerta," Draco answered politely.

She smiled prettily and handed them a couple of menus, as she asked, "What'll you have to drink?"

"Two butterbeers, please," Draco said, using his most charming smile. She nodded and sauntered off to take the order of another table.

"How did you get Dumbledore's permission to come to Hogsmeade?" Harry asked as Draco handed him a menu.

"I didn't," Draco said simply, looking over his own menu. "Angelo did. From what he told me, Dumbledore didn't even ask why we wanted it."

Harry shook his head in amazement before looking down at his menu. A second later, he glanced back up again, looking embarrassed. "I don't know what to get."

"Get whatever you like. I don't mind paying for it," Draco answered absently. Harry smiled and turned back to his menu again.

"When are we going to exchange presents?" Harry asked after another moment.

"After dinner."

Dinner passed quietly. They talked about a number of topics, including a few awkward moments about Quidditch, and when Draco finally paid Madam Rosmerta for their food, Harry was very sorry that they would have to leave soon. He'd enjoyed himself more in the past hour than he had in months.

But Draco didn't stand up once he'd paid. Instead, he turned his attention back to Harry.

"Presents now," he announced with a smile. "Yours first."

Harry started but pulled a small dark blue box out of his pocket and handed it over to Draco. "It may not work right," he murmured as Draco opened the box and his eyes widened. "I didn't have much time to make it."

Draco pulled out a silver bracelet almost identical to the one Harry was secretly wearing, only the eyes of the two snakes were different colours, one emerald green and one diamond white. He stared at the bracelet with awe, then glanced suspiciously at Harry's right wrist. "This isn't...?"

"No," Harry, shaking his head. "I made that myself. It's supposed to be like the necklace you gave me; if you touch it and ask how I am, it'll let you feel how I'm feeling at the time."

Draco's eyes widened and he stared down at the bracelet in his hands again. "You...really?"

Harry nodded with a faint smile. "I wanted you to know that I trust you enough to have something like this. I may not always be happy with you, or like you that much, but I trust you."

Draco gazed at the bracelet for another moment, then slid it onto his wrist, where it dangled loosely and didn't adjust in size. "So Muggle," Draco murmured in amusement before given Harry a breathtaking smile. "Thank you. I'll never take it off."

Harry blushed faintly; he hadn't thought Draco would like the bracelet that much.

Draco suddenly stood and offered a hand to Harry. "We have to go outside for mine."

Harry took Draco's hand and let the Slytherin lead him out of the Three Broomsticks without questioning it; finally, it seemed, he would find out why sunset was important.

Draco led him up High Street, past all of the buildings, until Harry felt sure that they were going to the stile at the end of the road where he'd met Sirius the previous year. Draco did, and then led him past that, up part of the path to the hidden cave until all of Hogsmeade was visible below them and they could see the sun setting slowly behind the Forbidden Forest.

Draco turned so that the sun was behind him, and Harry gasped faintly at the difference this made. With the reddening sun illuminating him from behind, Draco seemed an ethereal angel descended from heaven. Even his dark dress robes seemed lighter now.

"You have no idea how glad I was when you said you'd come today," Draco murmured, looking excited and terrified at once. "I thought at first that maybe you'd believed those Weasleys and thought I was going to get married and wouldn't want to talk to me again."

"No, I believed what you said in the letter," Harry answered, his voice soft. Somehow, he felt that speaking louder than a whisper would ruin everything.

"Good, because it was true. I'll always love you more than anything."

Harry blushed faintly and looked away. "Don't say that. You might find someone better than me one day."

"No, I won't. There's no one better than you," Draco said with such conviction that Harry found it hard not to believe him. "You're perfect, Harry. I know you may not believe that, but you are. Even when you make mistakes, you're perfect."

Harry held his breath as Draco pulled a very small box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal an elegant silver ring. It seemed to be made of many strands of silver looped together in elaborate designs centred around a sparkling ice-blue diamond with a rune glowing white within it. He glanced up at Draco questioningly, unsure if he should even touch the ring much less take it.

"Harry James Potter," Draco intoned, and Harry was startled to feel the weight of very powerful magic suddenly fall around them, "I ask you to enter into a courtship ritual with me to be finished by a bonding ceremony in three years. I would be honoured if you would consider this proposal, and humbled if you would accept."

This was so unexpected and yet not at the same time that Harry just stared at him for a moment. When he regained his mental processes, he glanced down at the ring and lost them again.

He'd seen this coming, he had; this was what he and the twins had figured out back on the solstice. But knowing about something and encountering it were very different, and he wasn't sure what to do. He heard himself promising Sirius that he'd tell Draco no if this happened, but he was sure now that promise would likely be broken.

He looked back up into Draco's hopeful face. Did he really love Draco that much? Was he willing to accept this and give up any chances of finding someone else to be with for the rest of his life? He knew deep down the answer was 'yes,' and it terrified him. It would be so much easier to tell Draco no and go on the way they had been, but he didn't want that at all. He wanted someone who could love him unconditionally and no matter what, something he'd never thought he'd ever have before coming to Hogwarts, and he knew very well Draco could be that someone.

"What's your middle name?" he asked finally, his heart leaping at the smile that immediately touched Draco's lips.

"My father's," Draco answered faintly.

Harry nodded and looked Draco straight in the eyes. "Draco Lucius Malfoy, I accept your proposal and will gladly enter into this courting ritual with you."

Draco's hands shook as he took the ring from its box and slid it onto Harry's finger. Then he leapt onto Harry and kissed him soundly. Harry moaned softly and held Draco close, far closer than he was usually comfortable with. He pressed his tongue against Draco's when it entered his mouth and duelled playfully with it, feeling more and more aroused as the seconds passed. He wasn't sure when he'd suddenly become at ease with entertained thoughts of himself and Draco and a bed, but they were certainly flitting through his mind now.

"I love you," Draco murmured once he pulled away, arms still tight about Harry neck.

"I love you too," Harry answered, pressing a kiss of his own to Draco's temple. "Thank you," he added softly.

"For what?"

"For giving me the best night I've ever had," Harry said with another kiss. "I'm glad you're the one I'm going to spend my life with."

"Want me to make this night even better back at Hogwarts?" Draco asked huskily, briefly rubbing his knee against Harry's crotch. Harry's breath hitched, and he himself wasn't sure how enthused he was about that idea, he knew certain parts of him rather liked it.

"Lead on, Draco," he said in answer before drawing Draco back into another deep kiss.

* * *

"Good lesson today," Ron said with a grin, clapping Harry on the back as they walked out of the Room of Requirement. Harry grinned back, knowing exactly why Ron was so happy; they'd been learning the Shield Charm today, and Hermione had been rather shocked when she'd barely managed to master the charm faster than Neville. She was still standing by the bookshelf, researching ways to perform the charm more efficiently.

"It's not my fault if Neville's working harder than her," Harry said with a shrug, though he was smirking inwardly. Technically, it _was_ partially his fault; if Neville had been pushing himself before his first SG meeting, he was practically killing himself now. Neville seemed to think that Angelo would find him a more unappealing target if he knew enough spells and so had been working harder than ever to learn everything Harry and Gabrielle taught him. Not exactly the way that either Harry or Angelo wanted him to think, but at least he'd stopped flinching away from the Vampire whenever they met.

"Oy, Haemon!"

Harry blinked and looked over to where Ron was yelling, unable to believe that Angelo would be up here in Gryffindor territory. After their brief meeting the previous year, Harry had never seen him come near the seventh floor except for when he had Divination. Apparently, they'd just missed each other, because there he was, clear as moonlight, with Kiran pinned against the wall a short distance from the Room of Requirement. Harry could tell that he'd Feeding on his boyfriend moments before, since both Angelo's lips and Kiran's neck glistened with blood. If he hadn't known beforehand that Angelo was a Vampire, the sight would have been a huge shock.

Angelo deliberately licked lips and shifted a tad closer to Kiran. "Hello, Weasley. If I didn't know better, I would think you have been stalking me. Is this not the second time we have met in as many days?"

Ron flushed angrily, looking disgusted. "I'd only be stalking you to make sure you don't do..._that_ in the halls!"

Angelo's eyes narrowed very slightly. "Kiran is one of my donors, Weasley, as is your brother. I am allowed to Feed from them."

"Not in the halls," Ron answered firmly, looking even more disgusted now. "You're supposed to go to the hospital wing, on the assigned days."

"Ah, but where is the fun in that?" Angelo murmured with a faint smirk. "I will not be on such a schedule after Hogwarts. Why should I not start behaving properly now?"

"I could get you thrown out," Ron said, sounding even more threatening with such a simple tone than a growl. Harry frowned and touched his arm.

"Ron," he said lowly, "I'm sure that isn't necessary..."

"You could no more get him thrown out than you could grow a more tolerable colour of hair," Kiran growled as he moved in front of his Vampire. Ron flushed to the tips of his ears, his form tensing in anger when Angelo snickered at that.

"You're no better than him," Ron snarled, his hand twitching as though to go for his wand. "You're supposed to be a prefect, but you just let him do whatever he wants. What did he do to make that deal, huh? Turn you into a monster like him?"

"Ron!" Harry hissed, glancing nervously at Kiran. No doubt Kiran would find that a worse insult than any other.

Kiran gained a dark look and his golden eyes flicked briefly at Ron's hand. "I wouldn't try it," he said softly. "You'd be halfway through the wall before you could even touch your wand."

"Can't use magic in the halls, Erebos," Ron answered with a vicious smirk.

Kiran returned the expression in kind. "Can't threaten fellow prefects or their charges either, Weasley."

Ron's hand curled into a fist. "Get out of here before I decide to actually report you."

Angelo smiled faintly over Kiran's shoulder as his arms wrapped around the blond's waist. "We are allowed to go where ever we like, and we have business up here, Weasley."

"What business could you possibly have up here?" Ron asked sceptically.

"We were waiting for the Room of Requirement to get free," Angelo said simply. Harry started a stared at him with suddenly revelation.

"So that's what you were doing up here last year, wasn't it? You were trying to get into the Room of Requirement!"

Angelo smiled and nodded. "Of course, you interrupted me."

Ron started at Harry in shock. "Don't tell me you know them?" he asked weakly.

Harry hurriedly shook his head, realizing too late that he shouldn't have opened his mouth. "I ran into them one night last year while I was wandering the halls. He didn't do anything to me Ron," he added hastily at Ron's look of horror. "We just ran into each other."

Ron glared over at the two Slytherins. "He better not have."

Kiran rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't be so stupid as to let Angelo attack _Harry Potter_, Weasley. I let him touch his donors, no one else."

"Yeah, right," Ron said viciously. "Just last week I caught him Feeding from some red-haired girl, and I know she's not one of his donors."

"Dominique would be one of my donors if her fiancé had not expressly forbidden it, and neither of us respect him very much," Angelo answered. He suddenly straightened and smiled pleasantly. "Hello, Miss Granger. How are you this fine evening?"

Harry and Ron turned to find Hermione standing right behind them, smiling back at Angelo. "Fine, thanks, Angelo, and I've told you to call me Hermione. The Room of Requirement is free now, by the way."

"Thank you. Your kindness is only overshadowed by your remarkable beauty, Miss Hermione." Angelo bowed his head to her before moving out from behind Kiran to begin pacing up and down the stretch of hallway. Hermione blushed faintly, but her glare at Ron was still as scary as ever.

"Let's go, Ron," she said coldly. "D.A. meetings don't excuse you from homework. Kiran," she added with a slight nod to the blond before turning on her heel to stalk back towards Gryffindor Tower. Ron sent Kiran a scathing glare as he followed. Harry stayed behind for a moment to give them both an apologetic look.

"I didn't realize it was so bad between you guys."

"It keeps life interesting," Angelo replied as the door to the Room of Requirement formed again. "He is correct, anyway. I should not be Feeding in the halls, but it is far too much fun to rile him up like that for me to care."

"Sorry you had to wait. We ran late today," Harry said as Kiran walked into the Room.

Angelo shook his head. "It is alright. Your D.A. meetings are very important."

"But if Ron reports you–"

"He will not. He is much too afraid of Kiran to do so. It is quite advantageous sometimes to have your Hunter as your boyfriend." Angelo's eyes flicked down the hall. "You should go. Your friends will become suspicious if we talk for much longer."

Harry paled and turned to leave. "Right. See you on Saturday."

"Oh, and Harry?"

Harry paused and glanced back at him. Angelo merely smiled and gestured toward Harry's left hand, where his engagement ring was hidden.

"Congratulations. I am sorry I did not have a chance to say so before."

Harry blushed and smiled faintly. "Thanks." Then he dashed off to join his Gryffindor friends.

Ron was staring at him with another look of horror. "What was that all about?"

"He told me to tell you something insulting," Harry answered coldly, "which personally I thought was pretty appropriate, but I don't want you to die while you try to curse him for it."

Ron flushed angrily, though it was hard to tell at whom the anger was directed. "Why did you think it was appropriate?" he finally demanded.

"Because you shouldn't be so horrible to him just because he's a Vampire!" Harry answered adamantly. "It shouldn't matter, since obviously he hasn't hurt anyone or he wouldn't be here anymore."

"Of course it matters! He's a Vampire; they're dangerous and evil. It's..." Ron suddenly paused and sighed, shaking his head. "You wouldn't understand. Hermione doesn't understand either."

Hermione shrugged as Ron stalked away. "It's a wizarding thing," she said as they followed him. "It's like the prejudice directed at werewolves and giants."

"And it's just as stupid," Harry muttered.

Hermione glanced at him in surprise. "Did you already know about him?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "He told me last year when I found him Feeding on Kiran in the hall, but I haven't talked to him at all since then. And I swore I wouldn't tell anyone. It would have been a real shock seeing him earlier if I hadn't."

"Well, he leaves this year, thank Merlin," Ron said as they stepped into the common room. "Him and that bastard Erebos. Then the Ministry can deal with them rather than us."

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, maybe you could be a bit nicer toward them in the mean time. It'll probably be really hard for them to leave the one place where they've been somewhat accepted."

Ron scoffed as he plopped down in front of the fire. "No way. They'll have to get used to being hated eventually, so why not start now?'

Hermione sent him a scathing look before stalking up the stairs without so much as a "good night." Ron stared at her receding back with bewilderment.

"What did I do?"

"Enough," Harry answered before he left as well, feeling as though he'd curse Ron himself if he stayed in the same room with the red-head any longer. What was wrong with these people? Why couldn't they see that Angelo was all right?

* * *

'Kay, so, Q&A time! ('cause it needs to be done):

_"How can Draco know of the D.A., anyways, without having turned them in before?"_ Because no one else knows he knows. If Umbridge or another Slytherin knew that Draco knew about it and didn't say anything, then yeah, he'd be in big trouble. But only the SG knows that they know about it, and none of them are snitches, so he's safe keeping that secret. He doesn't have to turn them in just because he knows about them.

_"please don't kill Sirius"_ I'm really sorry, but that's the way it was written in the book. If it makes you feel any better, JKR killed him, not me.

_"I wonder how you're going to integrate the whole Draco's-a-deatheater-thing that's in the newer book. Maybe you'll hafta change that a bit"_ Nope, nothing in the book changes. Draco still has to be a death eater, and trust me, it's going to be a pain. But that will still happen, and I've figured out how it'll work. You'll see in the chapter after next.


	14. Part III Ch XII Live to Tell the Tale

AN: The title of this chap comes from the second bonus track on _Once_ by Nightwish. The lyrics really have nothing to do with the chapter.

* * *

Background Secrets

Part III: Fifth Year

Chapter XII: Live to Tell the Tale

The day after Valentine's, Harry proceeded down to the SGC with a feeling of dread. His last conversation with Draco on Friday night had not gone well, and he wasn't to keen on finding out what his fiancé had in store for him today.

_"I'm sorry, Draco, but I really can't do anything with you tomorrow." _

_"Why not? We've hardly spent any time alone together in the past month." _

_"I already promised Cho I'd go out with her tomorrow." _

_"I see." _

_"You don't need to get so jealous. I promised her the day after we got back to school. I thought it was the least I could do after she kissed me." _

_"She kissed you?" _

_"Er...yeah?" _

_"And when were you going to tell me that?" _

_"Uh, now? Look, Draco, it really didn't mean anything to me. I didn't even like it." _

_"And yet because she kissed you, you decided to ask her out." _

_"I'm leading her on, Draco. She actually likes me...I think. It's the least I can do." _

_"You sound rather guilty about this arrangement. It was your idea, you know." _

_"I know, and it's working, but I kind of wish I'd picked someone else. If Cedric ever...well, he can't be too pleased with me right now, huh?" _

_"It'll be a disaster, Harry. You'd have a much better time with me." _

_"I know, and I really am sorry. I'll make it up to you." _

So now he fully expected to have to do something mental to make Draco feel better. He had no idea what the blond might ask him to do; years ago he would have bet on being a personal slave for a day, but now that he knew Draco better, he wasn't so sure.

At first, when Harry stepped into the SGC, he thought he'd taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way and wound up back in time three years. It seemed as though someone had let off a bomb that had covered the entire cavern in pink. Bright pink flowers and streamers covered the walls, and pink heart-shaped confetti was falling from the ceiling to cover the floor and everything else in a fluffy layer of pink. If Harry didn't know the man was currently locked up in St. Mungo's, he would have sworn that Lockhart had gotten a hold of the room.

"What happened?" Harry wondered aloud as he made his way over to where Draco was sitting.

'Gabi happened," Draco muttered, tugging Harry down onto his lap. He pointed over at one of the walls and Harry stared in surprise; he'd completely missed seeing the fairy-like girl standing there as her robe blended in so well with the bright colour everywhere.

"She found out we were meeting today and decided that it would be 'cute and romantic' if we all had a Valentine's Day party." Draco made a slight face as he glanced around again. "She wouldn't let anyone help her decorate."

"Let me guess; she fawned over Lockhart, didn't she?"

"Unfortunately."

They heard startled exclamations come from near the mirror and turned to see the twins and Lee walk in with mildly disgusted looks on their faces.

"So," Fred said conversationally as they sat down, "when did Lockhart come back?"

Harry stifled a laugh while Draco just rolled his eyes. Gabrielle beamed from where she was standing.

After another few minutes, everyone who was going to show up had arrived (Dominique had supposedly come down with something mere hours before, and Neville hadn't come the previous week either). Gabrielle bounded into the centre of the room and began levitating pink presents to people, wandlessly of course.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" she exclaimed brightly. "Draco told me you all had a party last year, but it couldn't have been nearly as great as this!"

Harry frowned down at the lurid box on his lap. They had thrown a party the previous year, but he'd been too busy with his research for the Second Task to attend. He shook his head abruptly; it was best not to think about the Tasks, as they reminded him too much of Cedric.

A pale hand lightly touched one of his own and he looked up at Draco in surprise.

"Don't think about it, Harry," Draco murmured. "It'll just upset you, and I want you to be mildly happy when you make up for yesterday."

Harry blinked, and then sighed; he'd been hoping Draco had forgotten about that.

"Open your present. Gabi'll throw a fit if it seems like you don't like it," Draco added as he started to open his own. Harry eyed the pink box warily before he gingerly undid the bow and opened the lid. Confetti exploded in his face. Once it had settled, he pulled out the small red heart-shaped box in the bottom and watched in awe as it grew to be larger than his head.

"Chocolates," Draco murmured under him. He had already opened his own huge red box. He suddenly smiled up at Gabrielle. "Thank you, Gabi."

Harry nodded in agreement, but he was far more amused by Draco's reaction than interested in his own present. Closer inspection of Draco's box of chocolates revealed several to be missing already.

"Do you really like chocolate that much?" Harry asked with a soft laugh. Draco smirked as he nodded.

"Yes, and you'd better guard yours carefully or I'll eat them too."

Harry stuck his tongue out at the other teen as he shifted his chocolates out of Draco's reach. Then he gasped in surprise when Draco suddenly started sucking on his tongue. He moaned and pressed closer to the blond, twisting awkwardly to manage it, his tongue eagerly exploring Draco chocolate tainted mouth. Draco pushed him away again all too soon and pressed a brief kiss to his ear.

"We have a rule in Slytherin," Draco murmured huskily. "Don't stick out your tongue unless you plan to use it."

Harry blushed heavily and hit him in the chest. "You're vulgar."

"I seem to remember you enjoyed that the last time we were alone," Draco answered with a smirk. "You certainly moaned my name enough times..."

"Well, we're not alone right now," Harry snapped, his blush worsening. Draco shrugged, and playful glint in his icy eyes.

"We will be later," he murmured. Harry looked away, sure his face was going to be stained red permanently.

"So, how did your date go?" Draco asked after a moment.

"It was...a fiasco, actually," Harry said with a sigh. He proceeded to describe what had happened the previous day with Cho. About halfway through, Draco had the audacity to start smirking, and by end, he was shaking with silent laugher.

"And then, get this, she jumps up and says, 'I'll see you around, Harry,' and runs out of the place!" Harry finished with a dramatic gesture. "I mean, what's with that? What did I do wrong? Quit laughing, it isn't funny!"

Draco was laughing openly now and looked like he might have trouble breathing soon. Luckily, he managed to calm himself before that happen, though he was still snickering under his breath.

"Merlin, Harry, you're lucky you have me," Draco laughed, pressing a light kiss to Harry's nose. "No girl will stay with you for longer than an hour if you keep going at it that way."

"So what was I supposed to do?" Harry asked edgily.

"You shouldn't have told her you'd made plans to meet Granger too," Draco said, shaking his head. "Really, you shouldn't have made those plans at all..."

"I'm glad I did now," Harry muttered. He shook his head and added, "I'll tell you later. What else did I do wrong?"

"Well, I know you don't want to hear it, but you really should talk with her about Cedric."

Harry stared at him. "You've got to be kidding."

"I'm not. It's killing both of you, Harry, you more than her, I think. I see it written on your face every time you look at her or glance at the Hufflepuff table." Draco sighed and looked away with a pained expression. "I hate thinking that you're hurting because of this."

"It's not killing me, and I'm not going to talk to her about it," Harry said shortly. "I know how much you hate that I felt anything for him. You'd hate it even more if I talked to anyone about him, much less Cho."

He winced slightly as he added, "Besides, it would probably come out that we were close, and that would make her feel worse and doubt her memory of Cedric, as well as completely spoil our cover."

Draco smirked faintly. "Such a Slytherin thought, that last one. Anyway, you are incredibly lucky you have my attention. You're hopeless with girls."

Harry huffed softly. "I guess I'll have to learn, then, or Ron and Hermione will get suspicious."

"Speaking of whom, why was it so important to meet up with Granger whilst on your date?"

Harry sighed and braced himself. "It was so Rita Skeeter could interview me about what happened last June. It'll be published in _The Quibbler_ soon."

Draco seemed excited at first, but then paled in horror. "Did you tell her _everything_?"

"Yes."

"Even...even who was there?"

Harry looked away. "I'm sorry, Draco–"

"You're _sorry_? You told her my father's a Death Eater! Everyone will know now! How could you do that?"

"Because he is one!" Harry answered heatedly. "And I'm really sorry, Draco, but the world needs to know that he's dangerous!"

Draco glared at him, looking completely unconvinced.

"Besides which," Harry continued, "I named off all the others. What would your father think if I didn't include him?"

"That you'd done it for a reason, and he'd started wondering what that reason is," Draco muttered.

"Exactly. And knowing him, he'd probably figure out the right reason, and then we'd be in trouble." Harry sighed. "I didn't want to do it, Draco, but there wasn't any other way. It's just like my decision about the Second Task last year; I had to protect you, even if I had to hurt you."

Draco was still glaring, though it seemed to lessen in intensity after a moment. "If my father gets sent to Azkaban..."

"I'll blame me, too," Harry reassured him.

"So, when is _The Quibbler_ coming out?" Draco asked finally.

"I don't know. Luna will probably let me know when it does."

"Why Lovegood?"

"Her father's the editor. Didn't you know?"

Draco shook his head. "I barely know her." He suddenly smirked and added in a whisper, "I did always wonder why she was so loony. I guess that explains it."

Harry barely hid a laugh behind a scowl. "Draco, she's really nice, and Angelo likes her."

"Yes, well, Angelo's an oddball in his own right."

"Do you talk about all of your friends behind their backs?" Harry asked, half-amused, half-disgusted. "What do you say about me to Blaise, I wonder?"

Draco merely smirkedand leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear, "That I can barely stand to look at you for fear of molesting you no matter who's watching. And that I wish you were a Slytherin just so that I could whenever I wanted."

Harry blushed, though it was fainter than usual; he was beginning to get used to words like that. "Well, the Sorting Hat did say I'd do well in Slytherin," Harry murmured with a faint smirk. "Maybe we should see about getting me resorted..."

* * *

The second time Harry had seen Blaise happy all year was the Saturday after the March edition of _The Quibbler_ came out. Blaise walked into the SGC with a huge grin on his face and Seamus by his side. There was a stunned silence, then Lee and the twins suddenly jumped up to greet them warmly. The Slytherins in the group eyed Seamus suspiciously, but Harry smiled at him, and Neville looked extremely excited that another Gryffindor was there. 

"What happened?" Draco asked as Blaise and the knot of Gryffindors moved closer. "What's he doing here?"

"Draco," Harry scolded, hitting him lightly. "Seamus is alright."

"I thought he thought you're a nutter," Draco muttered, obviously unwilling to accept Seamus as quickly as the others.

Seamus shrugged embarrassedly, glancing over at Blaise. "Well, I did, but that interview sure changed me mind. I'm sorry I didn't believe you guys when you told me the truth, both last year and this year."

Draco still seemed disapproving, though he nodded once.

"I forgive you, Seamus...again," Harry said pointedly, smiling at him. Seamus grinned nervously back as he sat between Neville and Blaise.

"I read your interview, too," Draco murmured after a moment, trying to get Harry's attention back on himself.

"I know; I saw you muttering to your friends in the library the other day. What did you really think?"

Draco answered only by pulling Harry into a deep kiss. "I couldn't have done it," Draco said when he finally pulled away. "It was hard enough reading it, and I already knew what had happened."

"I hated talking about it," Harry admitted softly. "But people need to know the truth."

"I saw all those letters you got," Draco said. "How many people have you convinced?"

Harry grinned, glee blooming in his chest. "So many. More than half the people who read it, I think. And more people have been writing me everyday, saying they believe me. It's so great."

Draco snickered softly and pressed another kiss to his lips. "I can tell."

Harry suddenly frowned and shifted to get more comfortable. "I had another dream on Tuesday."

"What about?" Draco asked, immediately serious. Harry was relieved that he wasn't going to joke about it for once.

He began describing the dream he'd had about Rookwood, trying hard to remember every detail even though he'd had it days before. He winced slightly when Draco's hold on him tightened, but didn't stop until he was done with the narrative. By the end, Draco was frowning thoughtfully.

"Father wrote to me about that. No details, of course, but he did mention that he hadn't seen Voldemort angrier before."

"That's hardly surprising," Harry said with a nod. "I–Voldemort did say that months of plans had been wasted."

"Yes, Father mentioned that too, that they would have to come up with a new plan."

"How much do you know about all this?" Harry asked suspiciously.

Draco fixed him with a pointed look. "Not that much. Father hardly says anything in his letters, but I'm very good at reading between the lines."

" Reading between the lines told you that much?" Harry said in surprise.

"Why not? There's a lot a person can put in a letter if the person receiving it knows the code. I'm sure you've done it yourself, especially with Umbridge checking all our mail."

Harry nodded, thinking back to the coded letter he'd written to Sirius in the first week. "But Umbridge isn't checking your mail, is she? She wouldn't have any reason to."

"She's checking everyone's mail, Harry. Of course, she might not ever check us if Angelo weren't around, but I'd rather have him over security any day."

"True. At least we gave up on real letters writing ages ago." Naturally, they still wrote letters as Ahren and Rast to keep up appearances, but those letters hardly held any real information.

"Can't give up on a tradition," Draco said with a shrug. "Anyway, I really don't know anything about Voldemort's movements. Father never tells me more than the basics."

"All right. I'm sorry I thought otherwise for a second."

"I can't blame you for it." Draco looked thoughtful for a moment before he grinned at Harry. "So, what did you think about the Quidditch match last week? That Weasley girl is surprisingly decent."

Harry laughed softly, glad for the change in subject. "Yeah, Ginny's pretty good. I think I could have caught the Snitch faster though. There was a moment–"

"–when it was near one of your Beater's ankles. Yeah, I would have caught it faster too." Draco smirked as he added, "Of course, even Slytherin isn't as appalling as Gryffindor is right now, even with the sloths we have. We'd have been behind, but not nearly as much by that time."

Harry moved as though to hit him, but paused and gained a pained expression. "You know, I think you might have a point. Our team is awful right now..."

"I always do, Harry, as I'm sure you'd notice if you paid attention. I am perfect, you know." Draco laughed as he ducked when Harry did try to hit him that time.

* * *

Harry nervously ran his fingers through his hair again as he made his way down to the SGC on the Spring Equinox. Draco had asked him to be there mid-morning, like he had the previous year, but he knew he hadn't been nearly this nervous then. He had a feeling it was because he knew that this year's meeting was part of a bonding ritual whereas last year's had just been a date. Nevertheless, there was still one similarity and that was that he had no idea what was going to happen. 

He stopped and stared as soon as he stepped through the mirror. Somehow, Draco had procured a pair of faded blue jeans and a dark green T-shirt and stood in them as he waited for Harry. His hair was noticeably longer now, too, though he'd done something to it so that it stayed out of his eyes. The sudden thought that Draco was incredibly hot struck Harry momentarily speechless.

"Where did you get those clothes?" Harry asked after a moment.

"You don't like them?" Draco responded with a quirked eyebrow.

"I...no, I like them. They're just very...Muggle," Harry said as he stepped forward. "I thought you'd be wearing something more wizardy and formal, like you did for Christmas."

"I thought about it, but I decided you'd be more comfortable with me if I wore something more familiar to you," Draco said with a slight shrug.

Harry blinked, taken aback. "That's really...thanks, Draco."

"Of course," Draco said, offering a hand to him. Harry took it with a smile, curiously looking around the cavern.

"What are we going to do?"

"I'm going to take you out for the day," Draco answered. "We're going to lunch, and I'm going to buy you lots of things."

"You don't have to do that–"

"No, I don't, but I want to. You deserve to get presents whenever, not just at Christmas or your birthday."

Harry shook his head in disagreement but allowed Draco to lead him out into the Hogsmeade tunnel without protest.

Draco checked his watch once they stepped out of Zonko's. "It's only eleven. We can walk around a bit before lunch."

"If you want to," Harry said, less than enthusiastic. He'd never been very fond of shopping.

Draco paused and looked back at him hesitantly. "We don't have to if you don't want."

Harry blinked at him. "You're giving me a choice?"

"Today is supposed to be about us, or the ritual magic doesn't work," Draco answered. He smirked as he added, "If this were any other day, I'd drag you around without asking and buy you every little thing you glanced at. But it isn't, so yes, I'm giving you a choice."

Harry smiled faintly and thought about it for a moment. "We can go shopping, if you want, but I want to have a picnic, too."

Draco smiled as well. "Like we used to have in third year?"

Harry nodded. "When we started clearing out the SGC, we stopped having picnics. I kind of miss that."

"We'll have a picnic then," Draco said, starting forward again. "And lots of shopping afterward."

Harry sighed, though he didn't look as adverse to the idea as before. "All right, but I doubt we'll find anything I want."

"We'll see," Draco said cryptically.

Harry frowned at him. "Do you know something I don't?"

"Maybe," Draco answered vaguely. "What do you want to eat?"

"I don't care. What are you planning?" Harry asked curiously as they entered the Three Broomsticks.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" Draco strode straight up to the bar without another word. "Hello, Rosemerta."

Harry glanced around warily as he followed; technically, he wasn't allowed to be in Hogsmeade, and someone might have told these people that. However, by the smile on Madam Rosemerta's face, he figured they either hadn't been or hadn't paid attention to it.

"Good morning, Mr Malfoy. What can I get you two today?"

"We're going on a picnic, today, but we forgot to get food in the castle," Draco said, before he began listing off foods that he wanted, much to Harry's horror.

"We don't need that much," Harry murmured when Draco's list finally ended.

"_I_ may not, but _you_ do," Draco responded. "That's all," he added to Madam Rosemerta.

"I'll have that for you in a minute," Madam Rosemerta said before disappearing into the back. Draco sat down on one of the bar stools to wait.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

Harry thought for a moment, then smiled faintly. "The Shrieking Shack."

Draco paled and stared at him. "Why?"

"It's closer than anywhere else, and no one would think of interrupting us there." Harry smiled innocently as he added, "Besides, we have such good memories there, don't we?"

Draco scowled at him. "Why are you bringing that up now?"

"Because you get to tease me all the time, so I should get a chance for a change."

"You don't have to pick something so humiliating," Draco muttered sulkily. "It took forever to get that mud out of my hair. And you didn't even get a detention for it!"

"Everything you come up with is potentially humiliating," Harry pointed out.

"Not like that," Draco said.

Harry quirked an eyebrow as he leaned back against the bar. "How is it different?"

"Because what I pick doesn't have to do with the past," Draco answered.

"I don't mind if you drag up things from the past, as long as I know you're not serious," Harry said.

"I do."

Harry winced and looked away. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Draco said as he took a large basket from Madam Rosemerta and laid a fair amount of gold on the bar.

"We don't have to go to the Shrieking Shack..."

"I don't mind."

An uncomfortable silence fell over them s they made their way out of the Three Broomsticks. Harry wasn't sure what he'd done wrong, since Draco hadn't said much and usually forgave him for his mistakes faster than this. He hadn't _known_ his comment would upset Draco so much, after all.

"Draco, I am sorry--"

"Do you even know what you're apologising for?"

Harry ducked his head. "No."

He expected Draco to be mad, but the blond just snickered. "I figured. You don't have to apologize, Harry. I know you didn't mean it."

Harry gave him a weak smile back but did feel more comfortable with the silence now.

At least, until Draco began walking across the street to Honeydukes. Harry eyed him incredulously; surely they had enough food?

It seemed they did not, because as soon as they entered the store, Draco gestured for him to keep moving. "Go pick out some stuff. Anything you want. And I want you to have an armful of sweets when you come find me."

"What if I don't want anything?" Harry challenged, though he was already moving.

Draco merely smiled. "Then I'll pick out something for you. I know exactly what you like."

Harry sent him a half-hearted glared before stalking off to pick out his favourite sweets.

DHRSDHRSDHRSDHRS

Harry was very relieved when Draco turned in the direction of the Shrieking Shack as they exited Honeydukes rather than toward the rest of town. To Harry's amazement, Draco was carrying both the basket of food and the giant bag of candy they had just purchased. He'd insisted upon it, in fact, when Harry had offered to carry something. Even so, Harry felt guilty about letting Draco carry everything.

Harry had mixed feelings as he looked up at the Shrieking Shack when they finally sat down on the grass nearby. Here was where he'd met Sirius in human form for the first time, and where he'd discovered who had really betrayed his parents to Voldemort. He'd also flung mud at his boyfriend here because they'd been fighting and under the influence of the Insularis Rite. And yet, since he knew it wasn't haunted but that the villagers still believed it was, it was oddly peaceful here. He knew he probably had a grin on his face, but didn't care. No one but Draco was here to see it.

"You really like this place, don't you?" Draco murmured, his eyes fixed on Harry's face.

Harry shrugged and looked away from the ruined house, still smiling. "A lot's happened here. Not for years, but still, a lot."

"Including flinging mud at unsuspecting travellers?" Draco asked with a faint smirk.

Harry laughed. "Well, you have to admit that you deserved it. That was what, two days after you invoked the Insularis? I wasn't very happy with you."

"Trust me, that didn't help me get closer to apologizing at all."

"It wasn't supposed to." Harry shrugged, looking back up at the Shack. "It's more because of the mad stuff that happened at the end of that year, though."

Draco chuckled softly. "Mad stuff happens to you every year."

"Yeah, but it didn't really have to do with Voldemort in third year. And I gained a godfather." Harry laughed as well. "Enough of this; I'm being way too sentimental. And I'm hungry. Where's the fifty kilos of food you bought?"

Draco rolled his eyes as he moved the basket to sit between them. "I didn't get that much."

"Close to it," Harry said with a grin as he began digging through the surprisingly large interior of the basket.

After that, they ate in relative silence. Harry was slightly glad Draco didn't want to talk; he was happy just enjoying the other boy's presence, and anything spoken would likely ruin the mood. Of course, it couldn't last, but it wasn't Draco who eventually broke the silence.

Harry cried out as pain suddenly seared through his scar while a feeling of rage bubbled up in his chest. He distantly heard Draco calling out his name, and just as distantly heard a jumble of voices, most of them screaming.

"Harry!" Draco yelled in his ear, shaking him this time. Harry reached out to stop him, because it was making him feel sick now that the pain in his scar had receded enough for him to pay attention to other things.

"I'm fine," he murmured, rubbing at his scar.

"What the hell was that?" Draco demanded. Harry winced as he looked up and saw the half-terrifiedhalf-furious look on his fiancé's face. He'd forgotten that Draco had never been around when his scar burned.

"My scar," Harry murmured. "It hurts when Voldemort feels a particularly strong emotion. He's furious; he's starting to get really impatient by how slow things are happening, especially now that he's supposedly on the right track."

Like they had months ago when Voldemort had been experiencing a similar emotion, the words came out of his mouth as though a stranger had possessed him.

Draco's expression turned more toward horrified. "You can tell how he's _feeling_?"

"Only when it's a really strong emotion," Harry answered, squeezing his eyes shut to concentrate on the tangle of voices that were very quickly fading away. "He thinks that maybe he's been given the wrong information again, since this plan isn't working any better than the last one..."

Draco suddenly turned completely serious. "Harry, how long has this been going on?"

Harry blinked and stared at him with wide eyes. "Since last year, really. But it wasn't as bad then; I could just feel when he was angry. Now I can feel when he's pleased too."

"Since last year?" Draco repeated, sounding choked.

"And when I look through his eyes in a dream," Harry added with a nod.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Draco demanded, looking furious. Harry very absently marvelled that he could feel so many emotions in such a short space of time.

"You haven't been around when it happened before now," Harry answered softly. "And it seems silly to put 'oh, and my scar hurt afterward' at the end when I'm telling you one of those dreams."

"I could have helped you," Draco said sternly.

"I'm already getting help, Draco," Harry said, shaking his head.

"From who?"

"I can't tell you."

Draco looked away, his arms crossing in front of his chest. Harry winced and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not that I don't trust you," he said sincerely. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone what I'm doing. You shouldn't even know that I'm doing something."

"And yet, somehow, I think Weasley and Granger know about this," Draco grumbled, avoiding his gaze.

"DD trusts them. I doubt he trusts you."

Harry regretted the words immediately when Draco flinched and pulled away from him.

"Of course, you care for DD's opinions more than anyone else's. It's always been that way."

"It's not like that--"

"Yes, Harry, it is like that." Draco turned hurt, incensed, silvery eyes on Harry. "It has always been like that. And you don't seem to understand that I want to be the most important person to you, before everyone else, even Dumbledore. And I know you've said I am, but if that were really the case, you would have told me what you're doing without hesitation. You would have told me about these _pains_ without hesitation as soon as they started."

Harry flinched himself, hurt by the words in spite of himself. Of course Draco was most important; he had been since the moment he'd entered Harry's life. It had always been about him. Yet he was letting Dumbledore dictate whether or not he should trust his own boyfriend, his own fiancé. That was not acceptable.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, then abruptly shut it again. There had to be a reason why he wasn't allowed to tell anyone, especially Slytherins. And he knew what Draco's father was; he wouldn't put it past Lucius Malfoy to know at least a little Legilimency. If he did tell Draco, Voldemort could find out as well in a matter of days. And not only would that put himself at danger, but Draco as well, for Lucius and Voldemort would want to know how Draco knew such an intimate secret.

"I'm learning from Snape," Harry said finally. "But that's all I can tell you. It could put both of us in danger if I said anything more."

"You're learning from Severus?" Draco said in surprise, still looking wary.

"Yes, he said Dumbledore is making him do it."

Draco suddenly laughed. "Merlin, that must be awful! Private lessons from Snape! No wonder you don't want to tell anyone."

Harry stared at him, startled, a smile threatening to form on his lips. "You have no idea."

"I'm very glad I'm not in your place," Draco said, still laughing. "I may be Severus's favourite student and acquaintance, but I'd never want to take private lessons from him. And he hates you! I can't imagine what either of you could have done to warrant this punishment."

"Are you still mad at me?" Harry asked tentatively. He wished he hadn't; Draco's laughter was rather pleasant.

"Of course I am, you prat," Draco answered. "But you did tell me a little, so that has to count for something. I do expect you to tell me about these pains you have when you have them from now one, though."

"I will," Harry promised easily. He'd never meant to keep those secret from Draco in the first place; he just forgot to tell him.

"And I expect to be told eventually what it is you're doing with Severus," Draco added in the same stern voice as before.

"I will," Harry promised again. "Eventually."

Draco eyed him for a moment before nodding once, apparently satisfied for the time being.

"I think we should go shopping now," Draco said as he languidly stood and stretched. Harry quickly got up as well, agreeing full-heartedly this time. He didn't think he could take much more of being alone with Draco for today.

Then as he gathered the bag of sweets and the basket and looked over to tell Draco he'd be carrying them this time, he paused in surprise. Draco was staring back at him and there was something _different_, something he was sure he'd noticed before but had never really acknowledged. It took him a moment to realize what it was.

"Your eyes have changed," he murmured in surprise, moving closer to get a better look. "They're a different colour."

Draco looked surprised for a moment before he nodded once. "Yes, that happens in my family. What colour are they?"

"Well, they used to be silver, but now they're kind of bluish." Harry looked away, faintly embarrassed that he'd noticed such a thing. "Why do they change?"

Draco shrugged, though he was looking happier than Harry had seen all day. "It's just a family thing. Malfoy eyes always change as we approach adulthood."

"Too bad it's only Malfoys and not every wizard," Harry sighed. "Then maybe my eyes could stop being green."

"Why? I like your eyes."

"Because then I wouldn't have people commenting on them all the time," Harry answered simply. "'You look just like your father, except the eyes. You have your mother's eyes.' And that's all fine and dandy, but I get sick of hearing it sometimes."

"You could glamour them," Draco suggested.

"I may eventually," Harry said with a shrug. "C'mon, I want to get this shopping stuff over with."

"You sound as though you think it's not going to be fun," Draco said as they started back toward the village.

Harry gave him a pointed look. "I don't usually go shopping for fun."

"Well, you should. Why don't we go to the bookstore first, then? I'm sure you'll be able to find something there."

"Like your surprise?" Harry asked curiously.

"Perhaps," Draco answered vaguely. "You'll have to wait and see."

"You won't even give me a hint?" Harry prodded. Draco shook his head with a smirk.

"No, and if you keep asking, I may not give it to you at all."

"You would. I know you better than that."

Draco just smiled and waved Harry off as they entered the bookshop. "Go look around. I'll come find you."

Harry frowned at him but left to go look through the books to see if there would be anything useful for the DA.

Since Draco had told him before that he could get whatever he wanted, he had a pile of books in his arms when the blond finally came looking for him. Draco hurried forward in excitement when he finally saw Harry and held out a boxed set of books.

"Here, these are for you, if you want them."

Harry set down his pile so he could take the books Draco was offering him. _Obscure Magicks_ proclaimed the title on the box, and as he looked over the books, he saw there was one on wandless magic, Animagus transformation, even Occlumency and Legilimency...

"It's a set of books about types of magic that aren't done very often," Draco explained. "There're all sorts of things; I think there's even a book on spells that only work in Parseltongue. I ordered it mostly because of the one on wandless magic, but I thought you might like the other books too."

Harry nodded silently, pulling out the book on Occlumency to flip through it.

"And they're colour-coded," Draco added. "The ones that are classified as Dark Arts are green, and all the others are red."

Harry snorted as he replaced the book. "Gee, I wonder why." Then he gave Draco a bright smile as he placed the books on his other pile. "I love it. Thank you, Draco."

"Are you ready to go pay now?" Draco asked. Harry looked over the books in his arms before he nodded and moved to follow Draco.

"Yes, but you'd better be the only paying for them."

"Of course, didn't I tell you everything you get today is a present?"

* * *

"So, you don't like me?" Harry questioned as soon as Draco stepped through the mirror. It had been on his mind since Tuesday when the blond took so many points from Gryffindor, but he made sure his tone was teasing, since he knew perfectly well Draco did like him. 

Draco arched an eyebrow as he walked over. "Like you? No, I don't."

Harry's breath caught and his heart clenched in the chest. What?

"I love you," Draco continued, fighting to keep from grinning. "That's completely different."

"You prat!" Harry exclaimed with a relieved laugh, cuffing Draco in the arm as the blond sat down. "You scared me!"

"The question shouldn't have even come up," Draco answered haughtily.

"Your fault for taking points from me," Harry said in an equal tone.

"Fine, take ten points for being incredibly observant," Draco said with a put on sigh. "Since you're so broken up about it."

Harry laughed again. "Much better."

They both ducked as a green and gold firework dragon, one that the twins must have trapped here on purpose, swooped over their heads, chasing Harry's practice Snitch. They watched its progress for a moment before Draco touched Harry's arm and eyed him seriously.

"I want to know what you're learning from Snape. If it were really Remedial Potions, you would have come to me. I can guess, of course, but I'd rather you tell me."

Harry sighed and nodded; he'd been planning to tell Draco since the blond had walked in on his lesson. "He's teaching me Occlumency; well, trying to, anyway. I've barely gotten anywhere."

"Why not? Severus is the best at Occlumency. Better than Dumbledore even," Draco said, hardly looking surprised. Harry figured the Slytherin had already guessed Occlumency had been a possibility.

"I just can't get it. It's hardly surprising, considering how well I've been doing at wandless magic." Indeed, both he and Angelo were starting to think it was hopeless, as he still couldn't calm his mind well enough to safely try a wandless spells. In fact, today he was hoping Angelo would let him try a few Parseltongue spell rather than meditate again, since there was no hope of him actually managing it.

"It's probably just because it's Severus you're working with." Draco shrugged with an apologetic look. "I'd help you, but I'm not a Legilimens."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Harry said, shaking his head. "I'm not doing them anymore–"

"_What_?" Draco exclaimed. "Why? Weren't they so you wouldn't have dreams or visions anymore? Why would you stop?"

"Yes, they were, but Snape said he'd never teach me Occlumency again. I...I made the mistake of looking in his Pensieve and saw something I wish I hadn't, and he threw me out."

"He can't do that," Draco hissed; Harry was surprised to see he was furious. "Dumbledore wants you to have those lessons for a reason. He can't just throw you out."

They ducked again as the dragon blasted fiery golden sparks at them. Draco calmly put out their loveseat once it had gone.

Harry shook his head. "Apparently, he can, since he did. Not that it's that big a loss–"

"You have to get him to take you back, Harry–"

"I can't do that!" Harry exclaimed, horrified. "He'd kill me!"

"Then, _I_'ll tell him," Draco said impatiently. "You have to keep doing these lessons, Harry. None of us can help you with this."

"All right, you can tell him, but don't get mad if he refuses. Which he will."

"We'll see."

* * *

Draco was very glad that his career appointment was during Defence Against the Dark Arts; he wasn't sure if he could stand Umbridge's presence today, especially after what had happened the previous day. He couldn't believe she'd given Filch permission to whip students, but he couldn't write his father about it. And now that Fred and George were gone, the whole school seemed quieter and more subdued, besides the fact the corridor on the fifth floor in the east wing was still a swamp. He would have to get one of those for the grounds of the Wiltshire mansion. 

He walked into Snape's office when the professor called him in and took the seat in front of the desk. Snape wrote a few more notes on his parchment before looking down at Draco.

"It is good to see you, at least, are on time, Draco," Snape said. "Unlike most of your classmates. Shall we begin?"

Draco nodded silently.

"This meeting is for us to discuss any career ideas you may have so that you can decide what subjects you will need to take next year." Snape eyed him imperiously. "I would hope you have some idea of what you would like to do by now."

Draco braced himself before answering, "I'm going to be a Healer."

Snape obviously was not expecting that, but he recovered quickly. "Well, I must say Lucius would be disappointed to hear that."

"I don't care what he thinks," Draco said calmly. "It's my decision. I've already started looking into it."

"I see." Snape plucked a leaflet out of the neat pile on his desk and laid it open before them. "You'll need a N.E.W.T. in Potions, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Charms, and nothing under an 'E'. There's also five years worth of training after school and continual checks to make sure you know what you're doing."

"I know all that," Draco said with a nod.

Snape sent him a warning look before continuing, "You should also continue with Care of Magical Creatures, since many of the patients in St. Mungo's are there because of a creature mishap."

Draco made a slight face. "Not if that oaf is still teaching it next year."

"As I said, it is not required, merely advised." Snape pulled a parchment out of his pile and looked it over. "You will have no trouble getting into the necessary classes. You have always achieved high-marks."

"What do I need to get?" Draco asked curiously.

"I personally will not allow students with less than an 'Outstanding' into my classes, but you have always had a talent for Potions, so that will not be a problem. Professor McGonagall does not allow students with less than an 'E,' nor does Professor Sprout. That has also been the standard for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and I doubt Dumbledore will allow me to change it if I get the job next year. However, Professor Flitwick and Hagrid allow anyone who has passed his O.W.L to enter their N.E.W.T. classes."

Draco nodded once. "I'll be able to manage that with out a problem."

"I should hope so. I would hate to see what your father would do if you did less than perfect on your O.W.L.s."

Draco winced. "I'd hate to see that too."

"Do you have any questions, Draco?" Snape asked, his eyes still looking over the parchment in his hands.

"Just one." Draco said. "When are you planning on giving Harry Occlumency lessons again?"

Snape's eyes were on him in a second as his face turned the colour of sour milk. "How do you know about that?"

"Harry told me about them and how you kicked him out after he accidentally saw something he wasn't supposed to see. He didn't tell me what it was!" Draco added quickly when Snape suddenly became enraged.

"Figures Potter couldn't keep his mouth shut," Snape hissed, slamming the parchment down on his desk. "Like his mind, his mouth is often wide open."

"Which is why he needs to keep learning Occlumency," Draco insisted.

"I will no longer be teaching Potter Occlumency," Snape answered lowly. "He has given up the right. And I don't see that it is any of your business whether or not he learns Occlumency."

"It is my business, because Harry is my boyfriend and what happens to him happens to me," Draco answered, enjoying the way Snape turned green at the word 'boyfriend.'

"You are being foolish, Draco," Snape murmured. "You should not even be speaking to him amicably, much less...that..."

"You're the one who's being foolish, Severus," Draco answered angrily. "You know perfectly well that Harry's vulnerable to the Dark Lord if he can't block off his mind. Besides, you used to be thrilled that we were getting along."

"Things change when the Dark Lord is in power," Snape said softly. Draco's eyes widened and he paled.

"You're still loyal to him, aren't you?"

Snape inclined his head once. "Of course, it is not my place to inform him of how close you are to Potter," he added, making Draco relax a little. "But it is in your best interest to give him up now. The Dark Lord will never trust you if he thinks the two of you are close."

"He won't know, and that's not possible. Or, it won't be in about a month," Draco said.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "How far has this affair gone, Draco?"

"That's none of your business," Draco retorted.

"It is my business as your Head of House and your father's friend," Snape answered warningly. "How far?"

Draco sighed and looked away, knowing Snape's reaction before it happened. "We started the Three-Year Ritual in January."

"Are you insane?" Snape hissed, standing abruptly. "What could have possibly possessed you to believe that was a wise idea?"

"I want to finish it as soon as possible. We'll have six months out of school, but that's better than one or two years."

"And what will happen when you find--"

"I have," Draco said abruptly, cutting him off. "It's him."

Snape sat down slowly, his knuckles white from how hard his hands gripped the edge of the table. "You must be joking."

"I'm not. It's him; it can't be anyone else. My eyes have started changing."

"How long have you known?" Snape asked warily.

"Since third year," Draco answered, glad that he wasn't being yelled at anymore. "It's one reason I invoked the Insularis Rite. But that's not important."

Snape closed his eyes, composing himself again. "This presents quite a predicament."

"Obviously," Draco muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You will have to tell your father eventually," Snape said after a moment. "He will notice your eyes."

"I know," Draco answered, though a jolt of cold flew through him. He'd forgotten about that.

"So we will have to think of a believable subsitute for Potter," Snape continued softly.

"Someone who will have to know the truth too. I don't want some bint like Pansy thinking I'm really going to marry her."

"No, I can understand that." Snape sighed and shifted the leaflet and parchment back to the side. "I will look into it. We're done here, Draco."

"Thanks, Severus," Draco said with a grateful smile before he stood and left the office. It was only when he was half-way out of the dungeons that he realized Snape had danced completely around the Occlumency issue.

* * *

Harry woke very slowly, feeling as though he would rather stay asleep and never wake again. Nothing had felt right since Friday morning--no, really since Thursday evening and the disaster at the Ministry. He was miserable and felt as though he was constantly in a fog. He felt very different now than he had before Sirius's death, as though that one moment had started a whole new era of time. 

Once he was finally sure he couldn't fall asleep again, Harry dragged himself out of bed and began getting ready for the day. It was only then he noticed the single rose and a note lying on his pillow next to where his head had been. Bewildered, Harry picked up the note first, hardly surprised when he recognized Draco's handwriting.

_Dew drops upon a summer rose, _

_Signal the start of another meeting, _

_One long and irreversible. _

It was quite possibly the shortest note Draco had ever sent him, and the meaning was clear. Harry allowed himself a very brief smile as he picked up the rose, which was indeed covered in dew. Even though Sirius had died mere days before and he'd been told he'd either have to be a murderer or be murdered himself, some parts of his life would continue as though nothing had happened.

* * *

Harry waited for Draco at their tree by the lake, his knees pulled up to his chest as he looked blankly out over the water. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the blond sit down next to him until Draco lightly touched his shoulder. Harry turned sorrowful eyes on Draco, saw his sorrow reflected in the silvery blue orbs, and immediately moved into the Slytherin's embrace. 

"I'm so sorry, Harry," Draco murmured in his ear.

Harry leaned back against him, whispering, "I'm sorry, too...so sorry."

"I still have my mother," Draco said, shaking his head. "You don't have anyone now."

"I have you," Harry answered softly. "You don't know how grateful I am that I still have you."

Draco blushed faintly. "I'm not much of a family..."

"You're enough of a family. I'm going to bond with you; that counts." Harry closed his eyes, relaxing completely against his boyfriend. "No one else understands what this feels like. No else was as close to him as we were."

"And no one else has lost a family member. I know," Draco answered softly. Harry was so relieved Draco really understood he almost started crying. Almost. He was past tears at the moment.

"I suppose you want to know what happened?" Harry asked after a moment.

Draco shook his head. "I already know. My father was there, remember? Mother visited him and told me what he said happened."

Harry opened his eyes a crack to look up at Draco. "You're not really mad at me about your father going to Azkaban, are you? You said you were yesterday."

"I'm not mad at you; I'm mad at Voldemort for sending him there." Draco looked down at him mildly. "Besides, what I believe I said was 'you're dead' not 'I hate you.'"

"Comes to the same thing usually," Harry answered as his eyes closed again.

"You are dead, you know," Draco whispered. "Voldemort is going to kill you. He's going to kill a lot of people now that he can't hide anymore."

"I know," Harry murmured, though he suddenly felt very cold. He hadn't yet told anyone what the prophecy had said; should Draco be the first to know? But what if Voldemort used Legilimency against him or tortured it out of him? He trusted Draco completely, but he wasn't sure if he trusted the secret to be safe with him.

"And the dementors _have_ left Azkaban," Draco added. "That was also a warning."

"I figured. You've given me messages like that before."

Draco nodded and shifted to fish a piece of parchment out of his pocket. "Sirius...sent me a note before he left his house Thursday."

Harry tensed and he held his hand out for it. It was a very short note and obviously hastily written, but a lump formed in his throat as he read it.

_Draco, _

_Take care of Harry for me. He needs you, and I trust you. Good luck. _

_Cousin Sirius _

"I think the last bit was for both of us," Draco murmured.

"The bonding..." Harry murmured as he read it again. "He approves of it..."

Without another word, Harry shoved the note back into Draco's hands and buried his face in Draco's neck, sobbing for the first time since Thursday over the loss of the one parental figure he'd ever really had in his life.

END OF PART THREE


	15. Interlude III: A Flurry of Queries

Background Secrets

Interlude III: A Flurry of Queries

_July 2, 1996_

_Dear Harry and Draco,_

I thought you would both like to know that I have been granted a position at the Vampire Liaison Office. It is a bit of a lonely job; only two other people work with me, but both of them used to be donors of mine, so at least I am on familiar terms with them. It was so nice seeing them after so many years!

Anyway, I will be leaving tomorrow for my first "mission," so I may be unavailable for a while. Kiran and Aaron may be coming with us, so they will be as well.

I hope you are both well, or as well as you can be in these times.

_Yours sincerely,_

_Angelo Eros Haemon

* * *

_

_July 2, 1996_

_Dear Kiran and Aaron,_

I write to you only because I am wary of what the new Minister will think if a try to speak to you at work. I am afraid he quite dislikes me and my people already. I have asked around, but I do not yet know why. It seems he dislikes werewolves equally, however, so there is that, at least.

I will be leaving for Prince Aubrey's main camp tomorrow, with Raven and Bran K., though the Minister does not know this. If you wish to join me, you are welcome. In fact, I believe it would help to have a neutral party. Aubrey has informed me that he wishes wizard assistance in the war, possibly even from Voldemort. Obviously, that would be a most unwelcome occurrence.

_Yours always in life and blood,_

_Angelo Eros Haemon

* * *

_

_July 13, 1996_

_To all SG members:_

I'll be staying at the Weasleys' house for the rest of the summer. Just so you know, all of the post coming to the Burrow is being searched at the Ministry before coming here, so anything suspicious or private needs to be sent over the scrolls or to someone that has one (Draco, Angelo, Kiran, or Aaron). I don't want the Ministry to come after any of you guys.

_Harry

* * *

_

Over the IM Scrolls:

_July 14, 1996_

_Harry,_

The Weasleys will think it weird if "Rast" takes O.W.L.s too; that's why I'm sending this over the scrolls. Look at how well I did!

Ancient Runes: O

Arithmancy: O

Astronomy: E

Care of Magical Creatures: O

Charms: E

DADA: O

Herbology: O

History of Magic: E

Potions: O

Transfiguration: O

Mother was extremely pleased. She said I did better than she did! I even told her my plan to be a Healer and she said she's going to help me as much as possible! How good is that?

How did you do? I want to see your scores.

_Draco

* * *

_

Over the IM Scrolls:

_July 15, 1996_

_Dear Harry,_

I have received your letter about your current location. Thank you for informing us.

I obtained interesting information during my journey. Prince Aubrey (the ruler of my clan) is coming dangerously close to allying himself with Voldemort. I have warned him against this, but his adversary has asked Dumbledore for support, so he feels it is best for my people to take the opposing path. Clearly, this is not what we want to occur. I have not yet told him that I am blood-bonded to you, but I would like to and will if you allow it. Aubrey may be more willing to listen if he knows.

Also, there is no doubt you will need more allies now that Voldemort is back and has two tribes of Vampires nearly about to join him. I was unable to do so last year, but I have written to all of my old donors from school asking them to ally with you, if you will have them. We already have a connection of sorts, so they will fight for me, if not you, but I feel it would be best if you approved of them as well.

_Sincerely,_

_Angelo Eros Haemon

* * *

_

_July 15, 1996_

_To my friends and family in life and blood,_

I call on you today, a day of my strength in the season of my weakness, to ask a favour of all of you. As you were my friends, my confiders, and my life in years past, I ask you to hear me out now.

As you are undoubtedly aware, Lord Voldemort has returned. I hope sincerely that none of your families have been affected by this. Kiran and I personally have been, not through our kin, but through Harry Potter, for we have bonded ourselves into his service through light and blood.

It is for this reason that I ask you to join me in my alliance with Harry. I do not ask for bonded support, nor do I ask that you join Dumbledore or the light, merely Harry himself. It is my wish that you write to Harry before you decide, and do not decide in our favour merely because I am the one asking. In this matter, I release all of you. Please consider the option with your own thoughts.

I thank you for lending me your time.

_Yours always in life and blood,_

_Angelo Eros Heamon

* * *

_

_July 16, 1996_

_Dear Angelo, my brother in all but blood family,_

I will always be at your side, and at Harry's, when you call. I thank you for including me in your plea. Good luck with the others.

_Aaron

* * *

_

_July 16, 1996_

_To Angelo, our brother in life and blood,_

Vin and I are ready and willing to do whatever you feel you need to ask of us. Vin's writing a letter to Potter right now, in fact. Think we'll be getting together anytime soon? I can't wait to see you again. Vin already has; he works in the Games and Sports Department, and he said he's seen you walking around once or twice. You should drop by and see us some time; I'm always visiting him.

Vin writes way faster than me; he's already done. I have to go look over what he wrote. You'd better come visit us, Angelo!

_Yours in blood,_

_Alexander Kreios_

_Vincent Cole

* * *

_

_July 16, 1996_

_Dear Harry Potter,_

My name is Vincent Cole. You do not know me, but we have a common friend: Angelo Haemon. I was one of his original donors during his first year at Hogwarts.

Angelo asked us to write to you to see if you'd be a good person to ally with. My partner Alexander feels ready to ally with you now, but I feel that we should at least know you a little before making that decision.

Alex wants me to ask whether you play Quidditch and what House you're in. Personally, I don't think that really makes enough of a difference, but whatever. I'd rather know what you plan to do to defeat You-Know-Who.

_Please write back,_

_Vincent Cole_

_Alexander Kreios

* * *

_

Over the IM Scrolls

_July 17, 1996_

_Dear Angelo,_

You can tell him about the bond. You can tell whoever you like. I don't care, as long as it keeps him from Voldemort.

Two of your donors have written me already: Alexander and Vincent. How many letters should I be expecting?

_Harry

* * *

_

_July 17, 1996_

_Dear Vincent and Alexander,_

It's nice to meet you. I'd love to have you guys as allies. The more people I can get, the better.

If you want to know about me:

Yes, I play Quidditch. I've been the Seeker of the Gryffindor team since first year. My best friend is Ron Weasley, and I'm currently in a three-year courtship ritual with Draco Malfoy. I'm friends with numerous pure-bloods, half-bloods, and Muggle borns. I'm half-blood myself, and the heir to the Black fortune, and a Parselmouth.

As for how I plan to defeat Voldemort:

In my first year, I faced Voldemort in Hogwarts and defeated him. In second, I faced a memory of him from when he was sixteen and a basilisk and beat both without much of a scratch. In fourth, I saw him return but managed to escape. And a month ago, I faced him in the Ministry and drove him out. I'll never give up to him, and I plan to be the one to ultimately destroy him.

_Harry Potter

* * *

_

_July 23, 1996_

_To Angelo, our brother in life and blood,_

It is good to hear from you. It's been far too long since we've spoken. You should write more often.

We shall gladly write to Harry Potter. Any measures against YKW are welcome.

Will and Lyon asked us to reply for them. They say they will gladly follow Potter as well. They would also like to ask whether you know when Bran will be visiting. We'd like to see him again; he's been out of touch for six months now.

_Yours in shadow,_

_Brenin and Llwyd Talbot

* * *

_

_July 23, 1996_

_To Harry Potter,_

Greetings. We write to offer you the friendship of four, ourselves and two of our friends who are currently unable to write. None of us feel that learning about you is necessary; the mere fact that Angelo was willing to bind himself to you is enough. You may rest assured that you have four more loyal allies.

_Brenin and Llywd Talbot_

_Will Dalton_

_Lyon Meredydd

* * *

_

_July 25, 1996_

_Dear Brenin and Llwyd,_

It's nice to meet you. I'm glad to have your support; every last person helps. Please tell Will and Lyon I appreciate them too.

_Harry Potter

* * *

_

_July 25, 1996_

_Rast_,

Are you alright? You didn't answer my last letter. I might be overreacting; it's only been a day, but I am worried. Please write back.

_Ahren

* * *

_

_July 27, 1996_

_Rast_,

All right, now I'm starting to get worried. You've never gone this long without writing before. Did I do something? I can't remember what I might have written that offended you, but it must have been bad. I'm sorry for whatever it was.

_Ahren

* * *

_

_July 30, 1996_

_To Angelo, my brother in life and blood,_

On this day, the day of my own strength in the season of my own weakness, do I reply to your formal request. I have concidered the request and have decided that it would be in my best interest to join you in your alliance. I shall be writing Potter later today.

I'm sorry I haven't been able to tell you before now at work. I don't know if you've noticed, but Scrimgour's been watching us pretty closely. I didn't want to do anything that might get us thrown out.

If you could, tell the T twins I'm going up there on Saturday. For all their whining that I haven't written or visited, by owls always seem to come back with my letters and slight dazed whenever I try to send them something. Do you know if Will and Lyon'll be back by then?

_Bran K. (not the Prince)

* * *

_

_July 30, 1996_

_To Harry Potter,_

On this day, the day of my own strength in the season of my own weakness, do I write to you to pledge my allegiance to you. You may consider yourself up one more ally.

_Bran Kenyon_

_Vampire Liason Office

* * *

_

_July 30, 1996_

_Angelo_,

Don't worry, we'll always be there for Harry. Good luck with the others though; bet there'll be a few who'll think you're crazy for asking that.

Come check out our shop sometime soon! You'll love it, and we'll give you free stuff!

_Fred and George

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

_July 30, 1996_

Draco! What is going on with you? You haven't written a word to me in almost a week! You've never gone this long without writing before! Please write something. I'm getting really worried.

_Harry

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

_August 1, 1996_

_Draco_,

All right, now I'm really worried. In the past three years, you've never missed the opportunity to shower me with expensive or meaningful presents whenever you could, but I didn't get anything from you yesterday. I got something from everyone else, even a couple of my new allies whom I've never even met!

Has something happened to you? Is that why you're not sending me anything?

_Harry

* * *

_

_August 1, 1996_

_Dear Bran_,

You work with Angelo, right? He said he only works with two other people and both used to be his donors. Does that mean you're related to Vampires or part Vampire too?

It's nice to meet you, by the way.

_Harry Potter

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

_August 3, 1996_

What's going on with you, Draco? You had me worried for nothing! I thought you'd been hurt or captured or something, but obviously you're perfectly fine or you wouldn't be waltzing around Diagon Alley.

Why won't you write to me? What did I do wrong?

_Harry

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

_August 6, 1996_

You know, Ron and Hermione are starting to get suspicious. They've been wondering why I haven't gotten a letter from 'Rast' lately. They think we've had a row or something, and I've been encouraging that idea, but they're bound to find it suspicous soon.

_Harry

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

_August 9, 1996_

You're bloody impossible, you know that? I can't believe you're still keeping up this stupid silence, when I know perfectly well you're alive and healthy. Why are you doing this? Do you just hate me all of a sudden?

_Harry

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

_August 14, 1996_

_Dear Angelo_,

I know you may not be able to help me, but I don't know who else I can safely write to about this.

Draco hasn't written me in almost a month. He hasn't answered my letters, either sent by owl or over the scrolls, and he didn't send me a present either. I thought he might have been hurt and unable to write, but then I saw him in Diagon just a couple weeks ago and he was perfectly fine. I don't know what to do; I can't get anything out of him about all this if he refuses to write me.

Do you know anything about what might going on? Could you look into it for me?

_Harry

* * *

_

On the IM scrolls:

_August 14, 1996_

I don't know what you're trying to prove or demonstrate with this stunt of yours but you'd better knock it off. I'm starting to get rather pissed at you.

_Harry

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

_August 15, 1996_

_Harry,_

Forgive me, but I have not been able to contact Draco for several weeks, more than you I believe. I know no more than you about his situation. I shall try to look into it, but I cannot promise anything.

_Again, forgive me,_

_Angelo Eros Haemon

* * *

_

_August 18, 1996_

_Dear Blaise_,

I know we haven't written each other much, but I couldn't think of anyone else in our group that knows Draco as well as you do.

Draco's been oddly silent for the past month. He hasn't answered any of my letters, and he didn't send me a present. Do you know anything about all this? Has Draco written you about anything lately?

_Harry

* * *

_

_August 19, 1996_

_Harry_,

I don't know anything. Sorry.

Please don't write me again. You're lucky I was able to answer this time.

_Blaise

* * *

_

_August 22, 1996_

_Fred and George_,

Have you heard anything from or about Draco lately. He's been silent for a month now, and I'm getting really worried. I know you've been keeping up a steady stream of letter, so I thought you might know something.

_Harry

* * *

_

_August 23, 1996_

Sorry, Harry, we haven't heard anything from Draco in that long either. It is pretty odd though, isn't it? He did come visit our shop a couple days before he stopped writing and seemed fine.

Wish we had more to tell you.

_Fred and George

* * *

_

_August 23, 1996_

_Angelo_,

When are you going on your next trip? Lee said he wants to go with you, if that's possible.

By the way, do you know what's going on with Draco?

_Fred and George

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

August 28, 1996

_Kiran_,

Could you find out what's going on with Draco? He hasn't written anyone until over a month. I'm going to try to get something out of him when we get back to school, but I'd like to know what I'll be getting into before then.

_Harry

* * *

_

Over the IM scrolls:

_August 29, 1996_

_Potter_,

I'll look into it, but I doubt I'll find anything. It's hard to communicate with any of the old families right now, and has been since June.

I wish you luck.

_Kiran Azriel Erebos_


	16. Part IV Ch XIII Not Supposed to Happen

AN: The title of this chap is based on the song "This Wasn't Supposed to Happen" by Army of Anyone. This song gives a definite feel for the mood and events in this chapter.

* * *

Background Secrets

Part IV: Sixth Year

Chapter XIII: What Wasn't Supposed to Happen

The graveyard sat dark and silent under the waxing moon, utterly devoid of native life. He knew this place had been cut off from any but those who were welcome long ago; every resident of the Muggle village nearby had been placed under the Imperius as soon as the place was deemed worthy of use. Far from comforting him, the thought filled him with dread. No one would come to investigate when they heard the screams.

He turned his gaze up to the faint outline of the house on the hill. Several lights shone out of windows throughout the house, a false image of hope. He smiled grimly to himself; he'd really never been much of a poet. He could really only come up with delicate phrasing at certain times of the year.

They were coming. He could see the dark shapes moving steadily out of the house and down the hill. His mother was sobbing behind him but he couldn't find the courage to ask her to stop; he was far too close to breaking down himself, and he couldn't have that. He would not allow himself to look weak, not with so much on the line. He silently thanked his aunt when she scolded her sister into stopping her sobs. He wasn't sure if he could have withstood them much longer.

He knew the instant the Dark Lord stepped foot in the graveyard. The air around him shifted with power and the temperature dropped about thirty degrees. Still, he kept still and silent, his head bowed respectfully, allowing himself no opportunity to relax. He had no choice; this was for his family, and this was for his mate. Nothing else mattered.

"I see you have shown up as I requested," said a cold high voice. He forced himself not to shudder and to keep his eyes on the ground.

"Yes, my lord," he murmured, immensely grateful he was such an accomplished actor. "I live only to serve you."

"Very good," Voldemort hissed, pausing only a few steps from him. "I am sure you know my...condition still stands?"

"Yes, my lord."

He could practically feel Voldemort smile and nearly shuddered again. "You _will_ serve me well. Kneel."

He did as he was told, inwardly trembling with revulsion. His father's voice screamed in his head-_"Kneel before no one! None are good enough for that!"_-but his father was gone, imprisoned by the one person he was trying to protect with all he had.

"Who brings this one before me, willing and ready to join my family?" Voldemort demanded; he shuddered as he felt the tendrils of powerful ritual magic close around them.

"His aunt, sister of his mother, one who is already in this family, brings him," stated his aunt in the steadiest voice he'd heard her use since she'd escaped from Azkaban.

He nearly lost his composure as he felt one of the tendrils of magic wrap around his ankles, binding them tight.

"And who offers him to me, body, blood, and soul?"

"His mother, wife to one in the family, sister to another, offers him." His mother's voice shook very slightly, but he was sure he only caught it because he was listening for it. Another tendril bound his wrists and he fought to keep his face the submissive mask he'd schooled it into.

"And who is the one before me, bringing himself, offering himself, giving himself wholly and completely into my service?"

He was very glad his voice was steady when he spoke the words drilled into him by his aunt over the past few days, "I was no one of great importance, I will be no one of great importance, I am now no one of great importance. I am made whole only by serving you. I will die before leaving this family. I am but a humble servant for you to command."

He nearly broke down again as he felt the last tendril close around his throat like a collar, almost choking him, but knew his mask stayed strong.

"Look at me," Voldemort commanded. He looked up, meeting the Dark Lord's eyes as he knew he was supposed to, at once strengthening his Occlumency shields so only subservient compliance could be seen and not the secrets beneath them. He felt Voldemort enter his mind and forced memories of feeling inadequate and being bullied forward, to give himself a motive for doing this. Foremost were the memories of fights with his mate in front of an audience, so Voldemort would think, like everyone else, that they hated each other.

When the Dark Lord finally indicated that he look away, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe, his lover was safe, and only one more test remained. Then he could go home and cry himself to sleep.

"Hold out your arm," Voldemort ordered. He fought against the magic binding him and lifted his left arm, just barely holding it steady. Voldemort drew his wand and lifted his sleeve with the tip, revealing pale skin that nearly glowed beneath the moon. The tip of the wand pressed roughly against the unmarred skin and he barely restrained a wince.

_"Morsmordre,"_ Voldemort hissed, almost in Parseltongue.

He bit back the pain as long as he could as vines of black infected his arm, but he soon screamed, as he'd always known he would-a heart-wrenching cry that mixed cruelly with the Dark Lord's high, cold laughter.

And nearly two hundred miles away, another boy sobbed in his sleep at a nightmare he wouldn't remember upon waking.

* * *

As soon as they got back to the Burrow from the sojourn to Diagon Alley, Harry left the Weasleys and headed straight up to his borrowed bedroom. He double checked the door to make sure it was locked (though knowing the twins, even Dumbledore probably wouldn't have been able to break in), then crossed over to his makeshift desk of boxes where his quill, ink, and IM scroll were waiting. 

_What's going on with you, Draco?_he wrote immediately, determined to wait until Draco responded to write anything else.

Ever since Draco had stopped writing a week before his birthday, Harry had been growing more and more frustrated. He'd written numerous letters to the blond and his name several times a day on the scroll, but there was no response to either. He'd been trying not to get worried, but knowing Draco as long as he had made this behaviour seem very odd. Even when Draco had multiple projects going, he always took time to write, even if it was a quick, "_How are you? Love you. Bye._"

At least, it had been hard not to worry before today. Before today, he'd been fighting off the thoughts that Draco might have been hurt or captured or put in a position where he couldn't write. Today, however, he'd seen the blond alive, whole, and healthy in Diagon and knew that Draco must just be ignoring him.

_You had me worried for nothing!_ he wrote, his hand shaking slightly. _I thought you were hurt or captured or something, but obviously you're perfectly fine or you wouldn't be waltzing around Diagon Alley_.

He'd been furious when he'd seen Draco that morning in Madam Malkin's, so furious that he'd drawn his wand. Luckily, Draco had said something stupid that had made Ron draw his wand as well, or it would have been a disaster. Then, of course, threatening Narcissa Malfoy had been an even more stupid thing to do, but he'd been so angry it hadn't mattered at the time. He had noticed Draco's odd behaviour when Madam Malkin tried to adjust his robe, but he himself had been pricked enough times by her pins to dismiss it.

But it had been too much to see Draco walking down the street alone with an all too familiar look of determination, the same look he usually had when he was trying to keep something secret from Harry. He'd had to go see what Draco was up to. He was just lucky that Ron and Hermione hated Draco enough to go along with him and not ask questions.

Harry glared down at the parchment before him. Draco must be home by now—after sneaking away from his mother, Narcissa probably would have taken him straight home—but for some reason he wasn't answering. Again. Harry felt he would go mad with frustration. Only a couple week ago, they'd been comparing O.W.L. scores, and now, Draco wouldn't even write one word in answer to him.

But what irritated Harry the most was that Draco hadn't written a word period. He would have understood if Draco had written to say he didn't want anything to do with Harry anymore, or that it was dangerous for them the write back and forth for a while; at least then he would know that the blond was still thinking about him. But this with this silence, Draco could die and Harry wouldn't have a clue.

_Why won't you write to me? What did I do wrong?_ he finished desperately, praying that Draco would feel bad an write _something_, though he no longer expected a response. He hadn't received one yet.

* * *

After another two weeks, Harry was not desperate or frustrated anymore. Oh no, now he was furious. Not once in almost a month had he spoken with Draco except during their brief and eternally vexing meeting in Madam Malkin's. Harry found it both depressing and amusing that everything involving Draco had started and might have ended in that same shop. 

He pulled a very worn parchment out of his pocket and looked it over, tapping his wand on the Emotion Necklace as he did. He'd remembered the necklace about a week before and since then had been checking it in regular intervals while checking the colours against the list of what they meant. Of course, he'd read over the list so often in the past few days that he had the words memorized, but it never hurt to check.

Pure violet with a small strand of indigo, almost too dark to be noticed. The same as it had been every other time he'd checked. Draco was feeling extremely protective of someone or something, so that nearly all his thoughts centred around it, except for one that was regretting whatever he was doing. Harry had even checked in the middle of the night when he knew Draco would be asleep and the colours were the same except for an additional miniscule thread of orange.

He couldn't help but wonder what Draco was feeling so protective of, so that he was only thinking about that one thing. But whatever it was, Harry was sure it could not be good, or the blond would contact him.

With a sigh, he concealed the necklace again and grabbed a piece of parchment to begin penning a letter to Blaise. He'd already written Angelo to ask about Draco, but Angelo hadn't had any answers. He hoped that Blaise, as one of Draco's closest friends, would have more to say.

* * *

Harry wasn't sure when he'd been more furious with Draco. He thought that maybe how he'd felt after that first disastrous Quidditch match of the previous year came close, but he'd forgiven Draco fairly quickly then. After what had happened on the train and the conclusions he'd made during the last week of the holidays, Harry wasn't sure he'd be able to forgive Draco for months, possibly even years. 

He couldn't believe Draco had gone and become a Death Eater. Everything he knew about Draco argued against it, from the fact that they were engaged to Draco's use of Voldemort's name. It was a very deep betrayal, and Harry had thought that Draco would have never considered the option. Yet, the evidence pointed to no other conclusion, and he was both angry and terrified.

If Voldemort found out about them...he hated to think what could happen. The only person Harry genuinely knew he would sacrifice himself for had just walked straight into his enemy's arms.

And of course, Draco's new status could hardly excuse his behaviour on the train. He wasn't angry about being frozen, hidden, and hurt so much as confused by the pure hate he'd seen in Draco's eyes. He could hardly believe those eyes had been directed toward him.

In short, Draco was in big trouble.

However, Draco didn't seem aware of that fact as he stepped through the mirror with an indifferent look on his face.

"What the hell is your problem?" Harry demanded as soon as Draco appeared.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "An interesting way to greet your fiancé after a long, hard summer. I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific."

"Where were you half the summer?" Harry persisted, only feeling more incensed by Draco's attitude. "I wrote you over a hundred times and you never answered, and no one else knew what had happened to you either!"

"I was busy," Draco answered.

"You were busy," Harry repeated flatly. "You were so busy you couldn't even write me once just so I knew you were still alive? I was worried sick!"

"Yes, I was." But Draco had winced and briefly looked away. Harry's eyes narrowed.

"You're lying," he said bluntly, but Draco had become emotionless again.

"What I do during the summer is my business, Harry," Draco said after a moment.

Harry felt as though he'd had the air knocked out of him. Since when? "I don't care what you did during the summer. I didn't ask that," he said slowly. "I want to know why you didn't write a word to me half the summer."

"I told you, I was busy," Draco answered coldly.

Harry's eyes narrowed again. He would have dearly loved to ask what had been so important, perhaps bring up the fact that he knew Draco was a Death Eater now, but that would have been stupid. Either way, Draco had too much pride to tell Harry the truth about it, but he would probably be in serious trouble if Voldemort found out he was suspected by his supposed enemy.

Finally, he took in a deep breath and asked instead, "Alright, then, what was with that crap you pulled on the train?"

Draco obviously hadn't seen that coming—maybe he thought Harry really would ask about the Death Eater business—which Harry thought was rather stupid on his part; the topic would have come up eventually. Draco winced again before managing to regain his indifferent mask.

"You shouldn't eavesdrop, Harry," he answered softly.

"I shouldn't eavesdrop, that's it?" Harry said incredulously, feeling extraordinarily hurt. "How in the world did that warrant a broken nose and a Body-Bind, especially from you?"

Draco just looked away again, obviously unable to stay as composed as he wanted. Harry quickly took advantage of this.

"If you don't want me around anymore, just say so," he murmured, making sure he sounded as hurt as he felt. "I'll leave you alone, fight with you, whatever you want."

"I don't want that!" Draco exclaimed. Then his features darkened and he looked away again, as though he thought he'd just said far too much.

"Then what do you want?" Harry asked desperately. "Because at the moment it sure seems like you want me to bugger off."

"I...I don't want that," Draco whispered, but he didn't seemed inclined to say anything more.

Harry let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine, I'll leave you to figure it out, then. I should have known better than to think you'd be willing to talk to me now."

He moved to stalk out of the cavern, but Draco grabbed his wrist as he passed to whirl him around into a fierce kiss. Harry tried to take it passively, but after a month and a half of hearing nothing from Draco, he couldn't help but kiss back hungrily.

"I still love you," Draco murmured once he let go. "I always have. Please remember that."

Harry sighed softly. "I know, Draco."

"I'm sorry for making you worry over the summer."

"But not for breaking my nose?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows. He smiled grimly when Draco just looked away again. "I see. See you, Draco."

"Wait, Harry!" Draco said, grabbing Harry's wrist again. But he soon let go, apparently unable to say anything more. Harry didn't spare him a second glance as he walked out.

* * *

Harry was both startled and hurt when he walked into the SGC the next Saturday; startled by how small the group gathered there was and hurt by the fact the Draco wasn't among them. He'd been late in getting there, so he figured that everyone who was going to come would be there already. He'd also been hoping that Draco had rethought whatever his problem was and would come, but he knew now that hope was probably unfounded. 

Only five people, other than himself and Draco, remained, as half of their number had graduated the previous year. Even knowing that, seeing to room so empty unsettled him; he'd grown so used to meeting with large groups that the five people sitting there seemed very, very lacking.

Seamus and Blaise were sitting in their usual spot, leaning very close to one another and whispering animatedly. Neville was glancing around, looking a little desperate, as Luna ranted on to him about some odd thing, completely oblivious to his discomfort. Gabrielle was sitting alone, detached from the others, watching them with the most unhappy expression Harry had ever seen on her face. Possibly because he knew he'd just found a kindred spirit in that respect, Harry chose to sit next to her rather than his usual seat.

"Oh, hullo, Harry," she said dully.

"Hey. How have you been?" he asked, trying to distract her.

She smiled ruefully. "Kinda bored. I miss Dom; I didn't see her all summer. She got married, did you know?"

"To who?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Cassius. Warrington," she added at his blank look. "They were betrothed for ages. Not that it matters; they can't stand each other. Cassius has been dating a girl in my year for the past three years. At least Dom's already pregnant..."

Harry gaped at her. It was hard to grasp the idea that someone he knew had gotten married and pregnant just weeks after leaving school.

"At least she'll be mine after this year," Gabrielle continued softly. "They'll have an heir, so her 'job' will be done. We're going to bond Summer Solstice next year."

"Oh. Congratulations."

"Thanks. Still, it would have been nice to do ours first, but her family wouldn't allow it..."

Harry just nodded silently; Gabrielle seemed determined to stay depressed.

"What about you and Draco?" she asked curiously after a moment.

Harry sighed and shook his head. "I don't know what's going on with him. He hasn't written me in almost two months, and we had a row about it last week."

"Yes, he's been acting a little odd lately."

"Do you know anything?" Harry asked eagerly.

Gabrielle shook her head. "Just that he's been acting off."

Harry groaned. "He won't tell me either. I tell him everything...eventually..." He trailed off, suddenly remembering that he _didn't_ tell Draco everything. Draco still didn't know about the prophecy, nor that he would be learning about Voldemort's past from Dumbledore, nor what he had learned already.

_That's good if he's really a Death Eater,_ he told himself firmly. _And Dumbledore said you could only tell Ron and Hermione about either of those._ But wasn't that what Draco had accused him of doing last year? That Dumbledore's orders were more important than anything else?

_"Of course, you care for Dumbledore's opinions more than anyone else's. It's always been that way."_

_"It's not like that—"_

_"Yes, Harry, it is like that. It has always been like that. And you don't seem to understand that I want to be the most important person to you, before everyone else, even Dumbledore. And I know you've said I am, but if that were really the case, you would have told me what you're doing without hesitation."_

Now, though it would be very dangerous for Draco to know about a few things. Voldemort could pluck them from his mind without him even realizing. Let Voldemort know that he'd been studying Occlumency with Snape; that wasn't nearly as top secret as what he was doing now.

So why did he feel so guilty about keeping it secret from Draco?

"I just wish he would say _something_ to me," Harry whispered finally. "I don't even want to know why he's been so silent, if he would just talk with me again."

Gabrielle nodded with a sigh. "Well, at least we're the only ones having problems. I'm really jealous of Blaise, actually."

Harry blinked in surprise, glancing at Seamus and Blaise. "What do you mean?"

"He told his mum over the summer, and she's okay with everything. Of course, she's probably just thrilled he wasn't thinking about You-Know-Who at all, but still..."

"Okay with what?" Harry asked, completely nonplussed.

"They're dating. Didn't you know?"

"Since when?" Harry said, glancing at his classmates again.

"Since last March." Gabrielle stared at him wide-eyed. "I thought you knew. Seamus is in your dorm, after all."

"We don't talk about that stuff!" Harry said hurriedly with a faint blush.

"Oh, I see. I'm not that surprised, I guess. Boys are so shy about their emotions."

"We are not!"

"Besides, I've only seen them kiss twice," Gabrielle added with a giggle, gesturing at the two sixth years. Seamus was blushing heavily at something Blaise was whispering into his ear, but both were grinning as well. "They're so cute!"

"I had no idea," Harry said, shaking his head. "Bet Blaise is thrilled, though. He's liked Seamus for years."

Gabrielle giggled again, smirking at him. "You should have seen Draco after you said 'yes' to him, both times. You'd have thought he'd been elected Minister for days afterward."

"I...didn't know that either," Harry said, mostly to himself. Somehow, the information only made him feel worse.

"So, what are we going to do this year?" Gabrielle asked curiously, absently flicking her fingers to conjure a poof of pink heart confetti.

"I dunno," Harry said with a scowl and he brushed the confetti out of his hair. "We can't do wandless stuff anymore, can we, since Angelo and Kiran left. And we're all learning the same level of spells now. We could just hang out like we did the first year we had the SG. We had seven people originally too."

"That's all you did? How boring!"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, maybe, but we were just starting out. We hardly ever had regular meetings, either."

"Oh, we should still have regular meetings," Gabrielle crooned, "even if no one comes."

"We could meet every Sunday," Harry suggested. "Saturdays are usually pretty busy."

"Okay!"

* * *

Harry was rather gloomy the next week on the Autumnal Equinox. He knew it was the next date for the courtship ritual, but he doubted the blond would do anything for it; Draco hardly spared him a glance nowadays except to glare at him in Potions. He was, therefore, very surprised to find Thiassi waiting for him when he entered his dormitory after lunch. 

Both hope and anger bubbled up when he saw the owl, though the anger was delayed. How dare Draco think he'd be willing to accept his present? But...maybe it meant Draco was no longer being stupid. He focused on that hope as he walked over to the bed.

Immediately, he noticed the package sitting next to Thiassi. He reached for it, but Thiassi hooted reproachfully and held out his leg. Harry shook his head in amusement as he took the scroll from the owl's leg. Thiassi flew away immediately, but Harry hardly paid attention as he unrolled the scroll, sure it would have some answers.

_Dear Harry,_

_I know you're still unhappy with me—you have every right to be—but I want you to know that I'm still thinking about you and our bonding. I do still love you. I'm sorry I can't tell you any more than that._

_Please forgive me,_

_Draco_

Harry read it over again, feeling extremely disappointed and very frustrated. What was it that Draco wasn't telling him? That he'd gone and joined the Death Eaters when for three years he'd acted as though he'd rather die? Or maybe it was whatever assignment Voldemort had given him? Either way, he should know better than to think he could keep it secret; Harry had solved bigger mysteries than this before. Besides, if he'd just told Harry that he'd become a Death Eater in the first place, Harry would have been upset and disappointed and probably a little terrified but not angry. No, he was far more angry that Draco wouldn't tell him anything.

And wasn't about to forgive his fiancé if he didn't get some answers.

Reluctantly, Harry opened the slender package and found, to his confusion, a thick white wand and a small note. He grabbed the note first, hoping _this_ would have some answers.

_In the mists of autumn,_

_A light shines through,_

_One formed of vibrant emeralds_

_And with the fire of a thousand suns_

Sweet though it was, Harry just stared at the words in annoyance. A poem was not one of the answers he'd been hoping for. Frustrated, he flipped the parchment over and tapped it with his wand to reveal any hidden text. He wasn't disappointed.

_This is a very special wand I found while looking though some stuff. It's made of Ash soaked in diluted basilisk venom with a core of basilisk skin and fang. It can only be used by Parselmouths who have encountered a basilisk before. It will obey only you after you first use it until you die or give it up, and it's probably unregistered with the Ministry. I thought you might be able to use something like this._

This time, Harry didn't feel anger or disappointment; he was too shocked to feel much of anything. This wand was obviously something very rare and therefore very expensive and valuable, not to mention something Draco had probably brought from home and would therefore be missed. It was something he would expect more from the Draco he used to know, not the one he'd been seeing lately who'd stepped on his nose. It almost made him feel more depressed.

Cautiously, he picked up the wand and gave it an experimental wave; green and gold sparks flew from the end. Grinning, he quickly found his book on Parseltongue spells and rifled through it for an easy one. So far, he hadn't been able to make any of them work with his regular wand, but he figured he'd be able to accomplish something with this one.

_"__Leuchten__!" _he hissed in Parseltongue, flicking the basilisk wand. Immediately, the wand tip lit up just like a normal _lumos_ charm.

_"__Nichts__," _he murmured, and the light went out. He grinned as he stuck the basilisk wand in his belt next to the Flame of Mortals. "Thanks, Draco. I can definitely use this."

* * *

Over the next couple weeks, it became clear that another part of his life was going to fall apart: that of the Serpent Guard. At the next meeting, not only did Draco fail to come again, so did Neville. When Harry asked him about it later, he replied evasively that he'd had other things to do that day, but he didn't go again after that as far as Harry knew. 

Harry himself didn't bother to go the next week, as they weren't really doing anything and Draco was no longer coming, and he wasn't alone. After lunch, he spotted Seamus and Blaise studying at a relatively hidden table in the library, and minutes later passed Luna wandering the halls. He knew that Gabrielle wouldn't be far behind them in abandoning the idea to meet every week since she wouldn't have anyone to keep her company.

Harry couldn't help but feel as though the SG was something he was very sorry to lose, though. It wasn't like losing the D.A.; the SG had been around three times as long and had helped him through very tough times. However, it had fallen apart faster than it had been formed.

Halfway through October, Harry began to feel that he was getting tired of being angry. However, whatever McGonagall said, however much it seemed like Draco wasn't involved, Harry was positive that Draco had been responsible for the cursed necklace that had nearly killed Katie in Hogsmeade.

The thought sent chills down his spine. He was quite sure that the necklace had not been meant for Katie, but the idea that it would have reached whoever it was really intended for without hurting someone was laughable. That meant that Draco must not care how many people he had to harm to get the one person he wanted to, and in a way, that didn't surprise Harry at all. Hadn't he, way back in fourth year, laughed when a curse meant for Harry had hit Hermione instead?

Of course, Draco knew perfectly well by now that he would be angry; undoubtedly that had been why the blond had failed to show when Harry had asked to meet with him. A quick check of the Marauder's Map had shown that Draco was sulking alone in a classroom on the ground floor, and he'd been off.

He knew Draco had jumped when he slammed open the classroom door, and he allowed himself a brief vicious smile at the terrified look on Draco's face. Then, ignoring the blond for a moment, he turned to shut the door, lock it, and _Muffliato_ it. He could feel the boy behind him tense as he stuck his wand back in his belt.

"We need to talk, Draco," Harry said softly as he turned back around.

"About what?" Draco asked, trying, and failing, to sound naive.

"About you!" Harry exclaimed, unable to stay calm any longer. "About why you thought it would be a good idea to plant a cursed necklace in Hogsmeade!"

Draco blanched. "What are you talking about?"

"Draco, we both know that you're the reason Katie's in St. Mungo's right now! I can't _believe_ you—"

"Harry, I had a detention yesterday," Draco said calmly. "I wasn't in Hogsmeade."

"I know that," Harry said impatiently.

"Then why are you accusing _me_? You should be out looking for whoever really did it—"

"He's _right here_!" Harry growled, and Draco blanched again. "I don't know how you did it or why, but I know you're responsible!"

"You don't have any proof of that," Draco said, his voice suddenly hostile. "I thought you'd have more faith in me."

"I can't if you won't tell me anything!" Harry exclaimed. "I don't even care what you're doing; if you would just _talk_ to me, I wouldn't have to be so suspicious!"

"What makes you think I'm doing anything?"

Harry crossed his arms. "It's obvious. You won't talk to me, or write to me, or meet with me. You haven't even insulted me and my friends in public this year. You must be up to something, and it must be bad if it involves trying to kill someone."

"I'm not up to anything!" Draco retorted vehemently.

"I know why you got that detention, Draco. Why haven't you had time to finish all of you homework? I've never known you to miss an assignment before."

"It's none of your business!"

Harry smiled grimly. "So there _is_ something going on."

Draco bit his lip and looked away, the most truthful reaction Harry had gotten from him yet.

"Please, Draco," Harry said softly. "There used to be a time when you'd tell me anything."

"That time existed for you too, but it's long gone," Draco replied with a glare. Harry forced himself not to flinch since it wasn't him they were supposed to be talking about.

"That has nothing to do with this. We're talking about you, not me."

"We weren't talking about anything, as far as I'm aware," Draco said calmly.

Harry nearly cried out in frustration. "You are impossible, you know that? Impossible! We were talking about plenty, as you know damn well! I want to know what you're up to!"

"I'm not up to anything," Draco said again.

"Then why don't you have time for me or your homework?" Harry asked desperately. This time, Draco looked away again and he smirked in triumph. "That's just it, isn't it? Whatever you're doing is taking up so much of your time, you can't be bothered with anything else. Is it really that important?"

Draco stayed silent, giving no indication of whether or not he was right, but it was enough.

"Right then, I'll just have to figure out on my own what you're doing," Harry said. He was surprised when Draco suddenly looked horrified.

"No, please don't, Harry!"

"Why not? You won't tell me, and it's probably something dangerous you shouldn't be doing—"

"No, Harry, you can't," Draco pleaded, looking surprisingly desperate. "Please don't try. It's bad enough that you've figured this much out...that you're even _here_..."

"Draco..." Harry murmured, suddenly unsure of what to say. He'd been expecting fierce defiance, a challenge that he could go ahead and try but he wouldn't find anything, but not this desperate, broken attitude.

"Things are really complicated right now," Draco whispered. "Please don't try to find out what I'm doing, and stop asking me. I can't tell you."

"Can't, or won't?" Harry asked bitterly.

"Can't. I can't tell you anything, Harry." Draco looked away with a pained expression. "I'm sorry, that's all I can say."

Harry sighed. "Will you tell me one thing, Draco?"

"What?"

"Were you responsible for what happened to Katie? I swear I won't yell at you or get mad if you say yes."

Draco was silent for several minutes, so long that Harry thought he might not answer after all, before he finally whispered, "I can't say anything about it, Harry. I'm sorry."

Harry left then, feeling extremely disappointed, both in himself, as though he should have been able to wheedle more information out of Draco, and in the blond for not having the courage to tell him anything again. As he closed the door, he thought he heard a soft sob, but when he didn't hear another, he figured he'd been mistaken. He'd never known Draco to cry over anything, after all, and there was no reason for him to start now.

* * *

Harry had already known Zonko's had been boarded up, but that did not make entering the empty shop on Halloween afternoon any easier. There was something wrong with the way he could simply walk through the shop rather than having to sneak through it, and the emptiness of the place mad him feel very unsettled. He was relieved when he checked around and noticed the back door had been left unlocked and unbarred so he was able to get out of the desolate place. 

The wind outside was biting cold, much as it had been weeks before during the scheduled Hogsmeade trip. Hardly anyone was out in it, something for which Harry was very grateful, because he did not feel like being harassed by anyone about how he was a student and therefore not supposed to be there. In any case, he was extremely glad when he finally reached Pryor Olla Podria and could step inside out of the cold.

The shop had not changed much in the few years since Harry had last been here. A few items were different, and Mr Pryor seemed to have found a good collection of swords and sold a few more of his chess sets, but otherwise everything was as Harry remembered it.

"Good afternoon, Mr Potter," said a soft voice. Harry spun around, startled, to see Mr Pryor stepping out of a secret back room with a pile of boxes. Harry hurried forward to help him.

"Thank you," Mr Pryor said as Harry took half of the boxes. "They go over here."

Harry was amazed that anyone could find room in this place for more stuff, but an opening was there as Mr Pryor had said.

"Now," said Mr Pryor once all of the boxes had been neatly stacked, "I am sure you did not come here merely to help keep shop. What can I do for you, Mr Potter?"

"I need a present for a couple friends of mine," Harry answered, looking around again. "Their birthdays are today, and I thought I should send them something. I've missed them a lot this year."

"Ah, they left school last year?"

"Yeah, and they've helped me a lot, especially this summer. I feel like I owe them."

Mr Pryor nodded with a faint smile. "I'm sure I have something that would be appropriate. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm really not sure what either of them would want."

"Hmm, well, Mr Erebos has always been fond of Muggle weapons, swords and staffs in particular. I happen to have a large collection of both. Over here."

Harry followed him in a surprised daze, though if he really thought about it, it wasn't all that surprising that the man had known who he was talking about. He was a Seer, after all.

"In fact, he came in here a couple years ago to get a present for Mr Haemon and bought my only sword then. I'm still unsure why; Mr Haemon has always been a very peaceful person..."

"Did they ever come in here last year?" Harry asked curiously as he looked over the swords hanging on the wall.

"Yes, many times. They were very good customers; every time they came, they bought something, even if they had only come to talk with me." Mr Pryor smiled faintly. "Yes, I am quite fond of both of them."

"Me too," Harry murmured. Indeed, he hadn't realized how much he'd actually missed the two older students until that first meeting of the SG. Since then, he'd kept up a constant stream of correspondence with the Vampire and his Hunter.

Looking over the swords again, he knew there was one that had been catching his eye. It was very long, almost to the point of being awkward, and looked very heavy, though he doubted that would be a problem for Kiran. The hilt and sheath, though made of silver, glittered gold in the light and were actually very simple in design, not at all like the dagger Kiran had given him.

Mr Pryor took it down from the wall and held it out to him before he had the chance to ask for it. "It has several spells on it," he said as Harry took the sword and unsheathed it, "including one that lets it cut through any substance. It's a very worthy weapon of Mr Erebos."

Harry nodded as he sheathed the blade again. "I think Kiran will really like this. Could I put it down somewhere?"

"Of course, set it on the desk," Mr Pryor said with a kind smile. Harry hauled the sword over to the desk and set it down as soon as he could. He hadn't realized it would be quite that heavy when it had been hanging on the wall.

"Do you know what Angelo might like?" Harry asked after a moment. He smiled ruefully as he added, "I'm sorry I have to ask you. I really should think of something myself."

"I'm sure they won't know the difference," Mr Pryor said with a small wink. "I believe Mr Haemon is a dear lover of music. I'm not sure exactly what kind he likes, however."

"That helps a lot; I wouldn't have even known where to start," Harry said with a laugh.

"I'm glad I could help. Would you like me to show you a few items?"

"No thanks, I'll look around on my own. I kind of want to see what all is here anyway."

Mr Pryor bowed slightly. "Good luck in seeing everything."

Harry laughed as he headed off. "I'm not even going to try."

He was glad he'd already determined that, because as he walked around, he decided very quickly that it would take a life time to figure out what all was there. The whole shop was a study in clutter, yet it was still clearly organized in some way, though he had a hard time seeing what way that might be. The musical instruments themselves were piled at random among other objects that had nothing whatsoever to do with music. It was almost hard to tell where the musical items were.

Near the back of the shop where the chess sets lay sat another set of shelves, these with delicate wooden boxes. Harry wouldn't have looked at them twice except that one appeared to be a replica of a box that sat on the mantle in his aunt and uncle's house.

"You have Muggle music boxes?"

"Yes, a very fine collection," Mr Pryor commented from behind his desk.

Harry nodded and moved closer to examine them. A few of the boxes were simple without any design and some were almost too elaborate. However, one of the elaborate boxes near the back caught his eye almost immediately and he carefully picked it up so he could look at it closer. He almost felt bad about touching it and placing his fingerprints on the shiny surface, but it couldn't be helped.

The box itself looked to be made of the blackest ebony under the shiny lacquer. Inlaid in the top in mother-of-pearl was a magnificent design of and angel surrounded by tiny white flowers. Harry undid the silver clasp to lift the lid and a slow tinkling tune poured out. He smiled faintly and immediately took the box over to Mr Pryor at the desk.

"I think he'd like this one."

Mr Pryor nodded with a return smile. "The _Edelweiss_ box, I think you're right. The box for it is under the shelves."

Harry set the music box on the desk and hurried the find the packing box for it. Once found, he carefully packed the present away and set it next to Kiran's gift.

"Is there a box for that?" he asked, eyeing the sword almost warily.

"Yes, it's near the boxes you helped me bring in."

Harry quickly found that and packed away the sword as well. Only then did he ask, "How much do I owe you?"

"It will be one-hundred and eighty-six Galleons," Mr Pryor answered, passing a parchment across the desk. "I've already written a note to the goblins."

Harry blinked at the price—he hadn't expected it to be quite that much—but he hardly hesitated in signing his name under Mr Pryor's. He _did_ feel he owed Angelo and Kiran a lot, after all. Then he gathered the packages into his arms, struggled to wave goodbye to Mr Pryor, and stepped out into the biting cold again to trudge across the street to the post office.


	17. Part IV Ch XIV Losing and Falling Apart

AN: The second part of this chap starts off from the end of HBP 15: The Unbreakable Vow. And I mean starts off from. It's really just an extension of the chapter. Please refresh yourselves on how that ended before reading, or you'll be terribly confused.

The title of this chap is from two songs: "Losing" and "Falling Apart" by Hurt. Both the titles and the songs give a definite feel for the mood and events in this chapter.

* * *

Background Secrets

Part IV: Sixth Year

Chapter XIV: Losing and Falling Apart

_She's Ron's sister,_ Harry told himself firmly for what seemed to be the umpteenth time in the past couple days. Yet, he could not help but glance discreetly in Ginny's direction as she laughed at something Dean had said. She had such a pretty laugh, and her hair seemed to glimmer in the torchlight...

_And she's Ron's sister,_ he reminded himself, looking away. _She's out-of-bounds_.

What really threw him was why he was attracted to Ginny in the first place. He had never seen Ginny as anything more than a younger sister; in fact, he had never really seen any girl as anything other than just a girl. Even to Cho he hadn't felt much genuine attraction.

And he did know this case was genuine attraction. Whenever he imagined Draco being kissed by someone else, the same primal monster that had appeared upon seeing Ginny and Dean together growled angrily in his chest, and he knew perfectly well he was attracted to Draco.

_Draco..._ Harry stared guiltily down at his homework. He had already put Draco through this once before, with Cedric. It was completely unfair to his boyfriend to fall for someone else again, especially now that they were engaged. Draco would likely know how he felt without him saying a word, too, just like he had with Cedric.

But should they be engaged? That was one question that had been pressing on his mind ever since he'd discovered he was attracted to Ginny. After all, they were only sixteen; they had plenty of time to start a meaningful relationship. He couldn't help but wonder whether the only reason he had said yes to Draco, the only reason he even loved Draco, was because Draco had always been there and had made the first move. If Draco had not kissed him that day in the hospital, or if he had not asked Harry out in fourth year, Harry was very sure his current dilemma would be quite different.

He hurriedly looked away when he caught himself staring again. It seemed that all he could do now was wait and see what happened.

* * *

Harry waited on the floor and nearly a minute before he realized that Draco was getting away and he might not get a better time to question the older boy again. He hastily got to his feet and dashed down the corridor after the Slytherin, sure he wouldn't be heard over the sounds of Slughorn's party. He breathed a sigh of relief when he turned a corner and could see Draco disappearing behind another up ahead. 

He was moving much faster than Draco, but it still took him until the stairs to catch up with the older boy. He flung off his Invisibility Cloak as he stopped at the top of the stairs. "Draco!"

Miraculously, Draco paused where he was halfway down the stairs.

"Why don't you come back to the party?" Harry called, praying that Draco would turn around and do just that. "Slughorn said you could stay."

For a moment, Harry thought Draco would head back up and come with him back to the party. Then Draco took a step down, then another, as though Harry had never said a word.

"Please, Draco!" Harry tried again. "I swear I won't ask you anything about what you're doing. We'll just hang out, like we used to."

But Draco did not pause again, and as soon a he reached the next floor, he broke into a run. Harry watched unhappily as Draco soon turned a corner and vanished from sight. With a sigh, Harry pulled his cloak on again and headed back to the party. He had not expected Draco to join him, but he still couldn't help but feel disappointed.

It was easy to blend in again once back at the party. Hermione seemed to have left already, something which a very irate McLaggen confirmed when they bumped into each other. Slughorn was busy getting drunk in a corner with Snape, whose glass was still full as he scowled at his old teacher. Luna was still talking with Trelawney, though they were now on the topic of something called the Chizpurful Scam, which seemed to be about how the Pest Sub-Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was actually infecting houses with pests rather than getting rid of them.

Harry was just about ready to leave when a hand touched his shoulder with what seemed to be the least amount of weight possible. Harry whipped around to find the vampire Sanguini looming over him.

"May I speak with you, Harry Potter?" he asked lowly.

"Yeah, sure," Harry said, bewildered. Sanguini gestured for him to follow and headed over to a more secluded area of the room. Harry glanced around as they moved through the guests, amazed that Worple was nowhere to be found.

"I lost him," Sanguini said, startling him; he was fairly sure he hadn't spoken aloud. "Worple is a fool. He may have written a book about my people, but he has yet to truly understand our culture. That is something one can only experience to understand. He is foolish to think I would attack anyone here."

"You seemed close earlier," Harry pointed out before he could stop himself.

Sanguini smirked faintly, an expression that reminded Harry horribly of Snape. "I enjoy riling him up. He is far too professional at times."

Harry laughed nervously. That sounded like something Angelo would say.

"I have heard among my people that you have extended the hand of friendship to us," Sanguini said as he stopped and turned to face him, "through the Halfling Angelo."

"Are you reading my mind?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Forgive me, I was not trying. You thoughts are just very loud." Sanguini shrugged slightly, obviously not finding anything odd with that. "Angelo has become a surprisingly important person among our people. He has—well, perhaps not single-handedly, but with little help—turned the tide in our war. He is unlike any Halfling I have ever heard of; he may even be only such Halfling ever to have existed. Many believe he would be a better leader than any who are currently in power, though it would be treason to say so. Many are willing to follow him, no matter who he answers to."

"Angelo told me Aubrey's tribes are going to ally with Voldemort," Harry said, slightly confused.

Sanguini smiled faintly. "_Aubrey_ wishes to ally with the Dark Wizard, not his people. Many of his people do not respect him and will not follow him, especially since following him will mean allying with werewolves. They may not follow you either, however. I know you have at least one werewolf ally."

"I do, but he wouldn't cause any problems. That still sounds like a lot of Vampires who would be willing to ally with me."

"Yes, but I am not here to represent them. I am not part of their tribe. I am here to represent myself and my friends."

"Okay," Harry said, still feeling bewildered and overwhelmed.

"My people are very weak compared to the other tribes," Sanguini said softly, almost sadly. "We only live about half as long; we cannot fly; we hardly have any special powers; we cannot walk in sunlight; and we cannot live on anything but blood. We do not even have a true leader right now; our last leader, Count Drakul, was killed by his Hunter without leaving behind an heir. The Strigoii have been in turmoil trying to find a suitable leader ever since."

"It sounds like you don't need a war right now," Harry said carefully.

"On the contrary, Harry Potter, we need one very much. Through war comes change and growth; it could help my people stabilize again. What we do not need is a war with another tribe; we would be utterly destroyed. We need to fight in a war that we can win."

"You think this is that war?" Harry asked incredulously.

"We cannot begin a war with humans without breaching the agreement we have with your Ministry," Sanguini said with a nod. "But we can join a war that is already in progress. We tried this twice before, the first time with Grindewald, and the second when the current Dark Wizard was previously in power. We were not accepted by either side either time. Nor was Aubrey, who tried the same thing. However, neither of those times had you around."

"Me? What do I have to do with anything? I'm not the leader of the Light."

"No, but through you we have an opportunity to join the war. You are blood-bonded to a Vampire, which shows acceptance of us and a willingness to let us fight for you. Dumbledore could not argue against it if we decided to join you. That is very significant."

Harry stared at him for a moment, trying to get his head around all this. "So, is that why Aubrey's trying to get Voldemort again? Because I'm around?"

"Yes. Voldemort seems rather determined to do you in, so much that he is willing to consider any help that is offered. I have heard that he is seriously considering allowing Aubrey to join him."

"So you want to ally with me," Harry said, knowing that must be what this was all about.

"Yes. Only with you." Sanguini gestured vaguely as he added, "Once Dumbledore realizes we will not be going away, he will try to get us to follow him. We would like to avoid that from the start."

"Don't worry, no one in my alliance has to ally with Dumbledore too. I have plenty of my own allies that he doesn't know about."

"Then yes, an alliance with you would be welcome, if you will have us," Sanguini said with a nod.

"Okay, then, welcome to the, uh...the Serpent Guard."

Sanguini blinked in surprise. "Your alliance has a name?"

"It does now," Harry said with a laugh. "It's actually the name of a secret club I've had for years, but half the members are my allies, it seems like."

"It is an interesting name," Sanguini commented with a smile, "for a Gryffindor."

"Hey, I didn't come up with it myself," Harry said with another laugh.

Sanguini smiled indulgently and bowed low. "It is an honour to be included in your alliance, Harry Potter." He reached into a pocket of his robes and pulled out a small glass vial like the one Angelo had given him years before. "If you ever need the assistance of my people, call on me and I will make it happen."

"Thanks," Harry said, feeling overwhelmed again, as he took the vial and suck it in his own pocket. "Sanguini," he added as the vampire turned to leave. Sanguini looked back in confusion. Harry grinned as he bowed to him. "You're a good leader. I don't think your people need to find another one."

Sanguini smiled a real smile for the first time. "Thank you, Harry Potter. I believe that is true about yourself as well."

* * *

It was a very depressed Harry who went to bed on Christmas night. Truthfully, he had been upset for days, ever since the Winter Solstice had come and gone with no sign of Draco. He had waited patiently all day, even right to the stroke of midnight, for something to come from Draco, but there had been absolutely nothing. No card, no gift, no letter. The IM scroll had been silent, and no odd owls had arrived. Harry would have thought this was because it was his turn to give presents if he hadn't looked up the ritual they were performing and read that the courter, Draco in this case, usually gave all of the gifts. 

So either Draco had forgotten, which was unlikely since he'd sent something on the last date, or he had no intention of sending anything. Maybe he was second guessing himself, or Harry, the way Harry was.

Harry had just been getting over this disappointment when Christmas came, and with it, again, nothing from Draco. He waited patiently all day, like before, occasionally wondering what Draco would do with his own present, but by dinner it became apparent that Draco had sent nothing. He tried not to feel too depressed, since they often waited until the end of holidays to exchange presents, but he had a gut feeling that just wasn't the case this time.

He sighed as he stared up at the darkened ceiling. He wasn't sure whether staying with Draco was what he really wanted anymore. He loved Draco, he really did, but the blond was certainly making it hard to trust that emotion. And he liked Ginny too—though she _was_ Ron's sister—he couldn't deny that. It was like fourth year all over again, only this time, Draco was completely unaware of the competition and was doing nothing to outdo it.

He fiddled absently with the ring on his finger. He just didn't know what to do.

* * *

Harry absently turned the ring on his finger as he waited for Draco to arrive. Amazingly, the blond had responded to his request for a meeting, and even more surprisingly, he had agreed to come. Yet he was late, and Harry was starting to wonder if Draco had chickened out and he was waiting for no reason. 

Then he saw movement by the mirror and turned to see Draco walking nervously toward him. He had to force himself to stay seated rather that pop up and run of to greet the Slytherin. He waited for the blond to sit down before he even really looked at his boyfriend.

He faltered. Draco looked even worse than he had before Christmas. The dark circles under his eyes were darker, and he looked very sickly, as though he'd stayed awake in the dark all holiday. Even his eyes were dull, almost haunted looking, as he stared back at Harry.

"I got your present," Draco whispered finally. Harry was startled by how hoarse he sounded.

"Good, I was afraid you weren't getting any post at all," Harry said, unable to beat down the hope blooming in his chest. Maybe Draco hadn't forgotten about him. Maybe he would open up and Harry wouldn't have to do anything drastic.

"No, I have been," Draco murmured, suddenly looking very guilty. Harry had to strain to hear what he said next, "I haven't had time to get you anything..."

Harry's breath caught and the hope exploded into disappointment. He tried not to get angry; he had known this was a possibility from the start, but he'd let himself hope that maybe Draco would get him _something_, even if it was something totally impersonal, like candy. Just something to make it seem like Draco had remembered him.

"That's fine," Harry muttered, looking away. "It's not like I expected anything from you anyway."

"Harry—"

"No. I'm getting tired of this, Draco." Harry turned burning green eyes on his boyfriend. "I need to know that I can still trust you. Can I?"

Draco opened his mouth to speak and promptly shut it again at a quelling look from Harry. He knew what he wanted to say, but it wasn't the honest answer and that was the answer Harry wanted. But he was terrified by what Harry's response might be.

"No, Harry," Draco murmured, hating himself for it. "You can't."

He regretted it the moment he saw the shattered look on Harry's face, but it was far too late to take it back. He knew that even if he had lied, Harry would have seen straight through it, as always, and would have known the answer anyway.

Then Harry gained a very determined look on his face and suddenly, something small and round was pressed into his hands.

"I can't do this anymore, Draco," Harry was saying, but Draco could hardly hear him as he stared down at the silver ring that Harry had worn for the past year.

"I just can't do this. I need to be able to trust you; I need to know that you're still there, and you're not."

Draco stared at him in horror. "What are you getting at?"

"I just...I think we should have waited before deciding to bond," Harry said in a rush. "I don't think I'm ready, and you're obviously not. I just...I can't do this anymore."

"You're...you're breaking up with me?" Draco whispered, feeling numb. No, this wasn't right; this wasn't supposed to happen; they were supposed to stay together, no matter what! That was why he'd done what he had, so they could stay together!

Harry nodded once. "I'm really sorry, Draco, but I can't do this anymore. I don't know whether you'll be dead tomorrow because of me, or if Voldemort will use you to get to me. I don't want to be the cause of your death."

"You can't mean it," Draco said, his hand clenching around the ring. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Harry didn't realize what he was doing. It was all just a horrible dream. A nightmare.

Harry shook his head. "I do mean it, Draco. Unless you can come up with something right now that will change my mind, we'll go back to just being friends. Maybe we can try this again when everything settles down—"

"You don't understand!" Draco exclaimed, panicking. "I don't have a choice!"

"You don't have a choice?" Harry questioned, sounding so doubtful Draco almost cried. "You're being forced to ignore me and try to kill people?"

"Yes!" Draco exclaimed, desperate to get him to understand and take everything back. "I don't want to be doing any of this! I'd like nothing better than to drag you into the Great Hall and snog you senseless in front of everyone. And if—" Draco stopped before he could reveal anything else. Harry wasn't supposed to know about any of that. Harry wasn't supposed to know anything.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "If what?"

"Nothing. I misspoke—"

"I don't think so. What's going on, Draco? What's going to happen?"

"Nothing's going to happen!" Draco hissed. "Quit asking!"

"Why won't you tell me anything?" Harry persisted, shifted a little closer. Draco forced himself to move back, feeling panic settle in again. If Harry found out...either thing...if anyone found out...

"I'll die!" Draco cried, hardly realizing what he was saying. "You said you don't want my death on your head, but if you leave me, if you _reject_ me like this, I'm going to die! I can't live without you!"

"Draco..."

But Draco clapped his hands over his ears, unable to stand the tone of Harry's voice. It was just too much.

"And it's not just you!" Draco exclaimed. "It's the Dark Lord too; if he—"

He stopped again, his eyes widening in horror as Harry's narrowed again. He could not have just said that...not even Severus knew about that...

"What about Voldemort?" Harry demanded.

"Nothing!"

"What did he do to you?"

"He didn't do anything to me!" Draco snapped. "I told you, quit asking!"

Harry's expression grew indiscernible for a couple moments, then Draco saw a spark of determination before Harry suddenly looked more hateful than he'd ever been.

"Fine, I'll quit bugging you," Harry hissed as he stood. "I'll leave you alone, fight with you, whatever. Maybe then Voldemort will leave you alone, not that it's likely."

Draco stared at him in shock before suddenly feeling complete hopelessness wash over him. "Weren't you listening? You can't do that! I'll die if—"

"If I 'reject' you. Yes, I was listening." Harry sneered at him, a better sneer than he could have managed. "I'm not rejecting you; I'm leaving you alone. You're welcome to come back once you're brave enough."

The hopeless feeling turned to fury and panic. Harry wasn't supposed to react like that! He was supposed to be understanding! "What is your problem?"

"You are!" Harry growled, but he didn't say anything more. Draco forced himself to stay angry to fight off the hopelessness as he stood as well, highly aware of how much his body was trembling from suppressed emotion.

"Why can't you see I don't have a choice in all this?" he demanded, desperately trying to get Harry to understand.

However, this only seemed to incense Harry further. "_You_ don't have a choice?" Harry let out a bitter laugh that sent shivers down Draco's spine. "Of course you had a choice! You're lucky enough to have one!"

Draco stared at him. "What are you talking about? What don't you have a choice in?"

Harry's expression hardened so that Draco couldn't read him at all. "I'm not talking about anything. Get out, Malfoy."

"W-what?"

"You heard me. Get out. I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Why don't _you_ leave, then?" Draco snarled, trying to get more of a reaction from him.

Harry gave him a cold smile he might have learned from the Dark Lord himself and the loveseat suddenly burst in an explosion of wood and feathers.

Draco paled and took a step forward. "Harry, please just listen—"

"OUT! NOW!"

Draco fled just as the ground beneath where his feet had been exploded, leaving a small crater behind. He barely slowed even once he was a good distance away, allowing his feet to carry him wherever. It was only when he realized his feet were taking him up to the seventh floor that he slowed and turned into the nearest bathroom to compose himself.

But as he stared at his panting reflection in the mirrors, all the events of the past few minutes came rushing back, along with his lunch. He staggered over to one of the sinks just in time to shower the porcelain with half-digested food and acid. He retched a couple more times before sinking to the ground, tears falling down his cheeks, the ring cutting painfully into his hand.

Everything was falling apart. He couldn't fix that stupid cabinet or get anything dangerous to Dumbledore, so he was sure to be dead by Easter. Harry didn't want him anymore, hated him even, so he might as well be dead anyway. There was no point in suffering under the Dark Lord's thumb if Harry no longer wanted or needed him. It was all just so wrong. None of this was supposed to happen. Not like this...

"What's wrong?"

Draco shot to his feet in an instant, his wand in his hand without a second thought, both highly embarrassed and furious that someone had seen him in such a state. He nearly dropped his wand in surprise when he saw that the intruder was a ghost—an ugly, female ghost at that.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Draco demanded, hastily wiping the tears from his cheeks. The girl pouted slightly.

"There's no need to point that at me," she muttered, gesturing at Draco's wand. "It's not like I could do anything to you."

Draco let his hand relax, though he didn't at all. "You didn't answer my questions. You're not supposed to be here. It's a boy's bathroom."

"I can go wherever I like," the girl said sulkily. "My name's Myrtle, but I don't suppose _you_'ve heard of me."

"Myrtle...you mean, Moaning Myrtle, the one who lives in that girl's loo downstairs?" Draco couldn't think of who else it might be.

Myrtle looked rather surprised. "You _have_ heard of me?"

"Of course I have. You're the girl who died when the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago."

Myrtle stared at him in shock before she suddenly beamed. "Oooooh, and it was _dreadful_. Do you want to hear about it?"

"Not really," Draco said with a frown. "I've already heard the whole thing. Harry—" He stopped, feeling a fresh wave of tears coming on. Yes, Harry had told him all about the Chamber once when he'd asked about it during one of their numerous study-turned-snogging sessions, but Harry didn't want him anymore.

"Harry?" Myrtle said curiously. "You mean Harry Potter?"

"What other Harry is there?" Draco snapped.

Myrtle pouted again. "I'm sure there are lots of Harrys in the world. It's a very common name. My cousin was named Harry."

Draco glared at her for another moment before he sighed and leaned back against one of the sinks. "Yes, Harry Potter. Not that it's any of your business."

"You don't have to be so mean!" Myrtle wailed. "I know him too, and I don't think he's very nice either!"

"You know Harry?" Draco asked incredulously. Harry hadn't mentioned that.

Myrtle sniffed. "Of course I do. He used to visit me all the time a few years ago, and he promised to visit me again, but he hasn't."

Draco frowned at her again. "So what are you doing here?"

"I was just floating about the pipe system for something to do when I heard you crying. What was that all about, anyway?"

"That's none of your business," Draco snarled, not about to discuss something that could potentially make him start crying again with this ghost. She clearly wasn't about to be dissuaded, however, now that she'd hit something emotional.

"What it about Harry?" she guessed, floating closer. A lump formed in Draco's throat and he glared at her. As if he needed to be reminded of that.

"Oh, it was, wasn't it?" Myrtle asked eagerly, hardly affected by the glare now. "What did he do?"

Draco stared at her, astonished that she'd be so obnoxious, trying not to think about what Harry had done. "Nothing."

"It's something else, then," Myrtle crooned. "You can tell me...I'll listen...I can help you..."

"No one can help me," Draco whispered with a sob. He couldn't hold it back anymore. He collapsed against the sink, clutching the sides tightly, tears falling freely again.

"I hate him," Draco gasped out. "That bastard. I'm going to die, and he doesn't even care..." He hastily wiped at his cheeks again, but the tears kept falling. "You won't tell anyone about this?"

"No one," Myrtle crooned. "You can tell me...I'll listen to you..."

"I don't have anyone to talk to," Draco murmured, fiddling with the ring in his hand. "Not anymore...he left me and now I don't have anyone...And I can't fix the stupid cabinet, and I've been trying for months, and I'm going to die and no one cares..."

Draco wasn't sure what else came out of his mouth—he may have spilled everything—but he was extraordinarily grateful he had someone to spill to after so many months alone.

* * *

Harry panted as he surveyed the damage around him. The room was hardly recognizable; every bit of furniture was in shambles and several craters were now in the wall and the ground. He was covered in dust and sweat and blood from a cut on his arm where a rock had fallen on him. However, as he pulled out his wand to begin fixing everything, he found he didn't regret the explosion of his magic. He was not happy with Malfoy. 

Of course the stupid bastard had a choice. He didn't have a prophecy hanging over his head saying he had to join the Death Eaters and betray his lover. He could have gone to Dumbledore for help. _Malfoy_ had a choice. He, Harry, did not. He had always been destined to be an orphan, to kill or be killed...

And he hated it.

And what was that nonsense about him dying if he was rejected? Of course Draco wouldn't die just because he'd been dumped. And he'd acted like he thought Harry would believe him. Draco was more likely to die at Harry's hands in battle than because he'd been dumped.

Otherwise, Harry hadn't really been mad at first. He had been listening very closely to what Draco had been saying and had realized that he could be seriously jeopardizing Draco's life. He'd acted mad to drive Draco away, so that if Voldemort ever looked in his mind, he'd only find memories of Harry hating him. Of course, the point was that Draco wouldn't know that, so he hadn't really caught on, but it only worked if Harry was the one acting anyway.

However, that comment about not having a choice had driven him up the wall. How could Draco think he didn't have a choice? Of course he did! _He_ didn't have a prophecy dictating his destiny.

* * *

Neville glanced nervously between the two sixth years, who were currently sitting on opposite sides of the room and resolutely pretending the other didn't exist except for the occasional glare. It wasn't very Valentine's Day-like, he felt, which was the reason they were all here, but he didn't dare say so. He'd likely be eaten alive. 

Gabi had arranged another Valentine's Day party and practically forced hem all to come. Neville didn't mind coming; he'd missed the SG almost as much as the DA. He even missed Haemon and Erebos, as horrifying as that thought was. The two weren't as bad as Ron had always made them out to be. And he had especially missed Gabi and Luna, so he was glad to have an excuse to hang out with them without being stared at or ridiculed.

He had been a little apprehensive to attend an SG Valentine's party—who knew what he might get dragged into, and he hadn't gone the previous year so he had no idea what to expect. Still, it had been next to impossible to refuse Gabi, who was now depressed because Dominique and Cassius weren't going to let her help name their child.

He had been very glad he agreed to come when Gabi dragged Malfoy, cursing, into the room. It had been hilarious at the time, especially when Seamus had to drag Harry through the mirror in much the same way. Now, however, he was starting to feel a little uneasy about the whole idea.

Harry was sitting near him, on the loveseat he and Malfoy usually shared, trying not to glare daggers in said blond's direction. Malfoy himself had taken the spot next to Gabi and was glaring at both of them in turn, looking absolutely miserable. Everyone else seemed oblivious to this, as Gabi happily ranted to Malfoy, Luna happily ranted to him, and Blaise and Seamus happily snogged in the corner.

Neville was just debating whether he wanted to have a closer look at the self-propelled bubbles Gabi had given for a present this year when Malfoy shot to his feet.

"Absolutely not!" Malfoy exclaimed, glaring furiously at Gabi. Harry let out a heavy sigh, turning his own glare on his boyfriend.

"_Now_ what's your problem?" Harry demanded. "Do you always have to cause trouble?"

Malfoy was ignoring him for Gabi. "I will not! If you hadn't noticed, we aren't speaking to each other! At all!"

"I just thought...maybe you could work it out..." Gabi murmured.

"Yeah, right. We have nothing to work out—"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not in the room!" Harry interrupted angrily.

"Mind your own business, Potter," Malfoy growled back.

Neville was stunned; what could have caused this rift between them? Last he'd known, they were so close it was almost sickening to watch. They'd even gotten engaged! They all knew Harry was openly obsessed with Malfoy this year, but could the reason be that they were fighting?

"This is my business. You're talking about me," Harry answered.

"How would you know what we're talking about?" Malfoy sneered.

"It's obvious," Harry snarled.

Neville felt distinctly disoriented, despite the fact that this was how he'd seen them act for almost five years. It just seemed so wrong. Once he'd gotten used to the idea, he couldn't help but think that Harry and Malfoy were meant for each other. And now they were fighting?

"It's Valentine's Day," Gabi tried weakly, giving Malfoy a pleading look. "You're supposed to be together—"

"Who cares?" the two muttered simultaneously before glaring at each other again.

Gabi let out a frustrated sigh. "What are you even fighting about? Do you even know?"

"Potter's being an insensitive bastard," Malfoy answered immediately.

"Malfoy's being a secretive prick," Harry said right after. They glared at each other again.

"Then why don't you work everything out—"

"No!" they growled. They glared for what seemed to be the hundredth time and turned away from each other. Gabi pouted unhappily.

"Harry," Neville said cautiously, glancing between them, "what happened? Why are you fighting? I thought you were serious."

Malfoy tensed at those words, but Harry nodded and turned back to the blond with a furious glance. "Neville's right, we were. Why aren't you anymore?"

Malfoy paled then flushed in fury. "It's as much your fault as mine!"

"What? _You_'re the one who's been so bloody distant this year!"

"You're the one who gave the ring back!"

"You're working for Lord bloody Voldemort now!" Harry exclaimed hysterically. "How could I not?"

"You don't have any proof of that!" Malfoy snarled, drawing his wand.

"Oh, don't I?" Harry growled back, pulling out his own.

"_Expelliarmus__!"_

Their wands flew out of their hands, rolling away into the dark corners of the room. Seamus and Blaise both had their own wands out and pointed at the two, annoyed expressions on their faces.

"Hasn't this gone on long enough?" Blaise demanded. "Can't you both see you're being stupid?"

"Stay out of this, Blaise," Malfoy said lowly, raising his hand threateningly. "This doesn't concern you."

"You're my friend; of course it concerns me," Blaise said with a roll of his eyes. He leaned forward and added softly, "You told me last year that you'd found him. Surely you're not willing to lose him now? Or are you that eager to die?"

Neville stared at them in confusion, a look mirrored on Harry's face, but Seamus nodded in agreement. Malfoy's expression tightened and his hand clenched.

"I know what I'm doing, Blaise," Malfoy growled after a moment. "Stay out of it. _Accio_"

Harry blanched as Malfoy's wand flew to his hand, but Malfoy immediately pocketed and stalked out.

"What was that all about, Harry?" Neville asked as Harry moved to collect his own wand.

"It's nothing," Harry said, shaking his head. "Thanks for the party, Gabi, but I really need to go now. See you."

Harry strode out much the same way Malfoy had; though he had a blank look on his face, his body was stiff and shaking with pent up energy.

"I think I'll go make sure they don't get in a fight," Seamus said hurriedly before following Harry. Blaise waved goodbye as he moved to catch up with his boyfriend.

Gabi stared at the mirror, looking about ready to cry. "Boys ruin everything. Well, except you, Neville..."

Neville gave her a comforting smile. "I liked your party. I'm sorry it couldn't have gone longer."

"So did I," Luna added serenely. "It was even nicer than last year's."

Gabi managed a faint smile. "Thanks."

* * *

Furious as he was, Harry did not confront Malfoy after Ron's near-fatal encounter with mead. Not only did he know that it would be useless, he was also secretly becoming nervous around the blond. This was now the second near-fatality the blond had caused, and the second person he hadn't intended to be the victim. 

Hermione had summed up Harry's feelings perfectly; Malfoy was dangerous, not because he was on a murder-spree, but because he didn't care who he had to kill to get the one person he actually wanted. Harry knew that Malfoy would not stop until then; he was just too stubborn. The next person, however, would probably not be as lucky as Katie and Ron and would likely die. Harry wanted to prevent that at all costs.

He knew that a few people were starting to think he was becoming obsessed, and they weren't wrong, only he'd been obsessed with Malfoy for years. A few people, like Hermione, might also figure out what was really going on by how he was acting, but he no longer cared. In fact, if Malfoy weren't being such a prat, he would have loved nothing more this year than to tell the whole school they were—had been—dating, engaged even. Screw Voldemort and Malfoy's father; he wanted to stop with this whole secrecy business.

But things were different and Malfoy was being a prat, so he still had to be secretive, only now it was from Malfoy rather than with him. He'd taken to following Malfoy around. He couldn't do it during classes, of course, but he'd started checking the map at regular intervals and wandering off to wherever Malfoy was at the time. A few times he couldn't find Malfoy on the map, but he'd never seen Malfoy using the secret passages to get out of the school, so he was sure he'd simply overlooked the blond's name. That was easy to do in a school of a thousand students and staff.

Yet, he still could not find the blond doing anything wrong. It was annoying, and depressing, and with McLaggen and Lavender hanging around, the SGC was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times.


	18. Part IV Ch XV Wake Up

AN: Yay! The last chapter! -sobs- I kind of sad to see it end, actually. This fic has brought me through a year and a half.

Disclaimer: There's an italicized paragraph about halfway through that's JKR's words, not mine. I don't own it.

The title of this chap is from track eight of Coheed and Cambria's _Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV Volume One_. It give a definite feel for the mood of the chapter, both good and bad, especially Draco's messages to Harry.

* * *

Background Secrets

Part IV: Sixth Year

Chapter XV: Wake Up

Harry woke very slowly with the feeling that something was off, but not really off. He was in the hospital wing still, after that disastrous Quidditch match, but he got landed in the hospital wing so often that it couldn't be that. His head still felt tender, but after having a cracked skull, that was normal too. It was the middle of the night, but he often woke in the middle of the night nowadays.

He opened his eyes and looked around, absently groping for his glasses. Then he nearly dropped them in shock. Sitting next to his bed with a very calm expression was Draco Malfoy.

Harry hurriedly sat up and fumbled to put on his glasses before casting _Muffliato_ on Ron's curtains and Madam Pomfrey's door. Then he looked back at Malfoy, unsure of whether he sure be pleased or pissed to see him.

"Hello, Harry," Malfoy murmured, avoiding his eyes.

"Malfoy," Harry said, glad his tone was neutral. He winced slightly when Malfoy suddenly looked pained, but forcefully told himself that it was no more than Malfoy deserved.

"Why are you here, Malfoy?" Harry asked after a minute of silence.

"I heard you'd gotten hurt in the match and I wanted to come see you, to make sure you were okay," Malfoy answered softly, sounding close to tears. "I wanted to come last night, but I heard voices so I left."

Harry suddenly felt very cold. "What did you hear?"

"Not much. Just something about watching something." Malfoy made a slight face as he added, "It sounded like Peeves."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "It was Peeves. He bothered us all last night."

Malfoy's eyes widened and he moved to leave. "You probably need sleep then—"

"I'm fine," Harry said, grabbing Malfoy's arm to pull him down again. He let go almost immediately afterward, though, and drew his hand to his chest, annoyed that he was so weak that he couldn't let Malfoy leave.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Malfoy murmured, studying his own hands in his lap. "I didn't mean a word of it."

"Of course you didn't," Harry said with a sigh. He should have known Malfoy was here to apologize for something.

Malfoy looked sharply up at him. "I didn't!" he insisted. "I'd tell you what I'm doing if I could, but—"

"I know, Malfoy. I understand; I really do." Harry sighed and shook his head. "I know all about keeping secrets."

"Then why did you break up with me?" Malfoy asked, sounding anguished.

Harry thought over his answer for several minutes, knowing Malfoy was expecting some stupid reason that could easily be fixed. He also knew the weak excuses he'd given back in January wouldn't work now, since neither of them was that emotional. However, what he'd said then was the truth, so he was hard pressed to come up with another answer.

"Malfoy," he finally said, "I can't tell you anything other than what I already told you back in January. We're too young to be making these decisions—"

"You are maybe," Malfoy muttered.

"—I can't trust you anymore, which you confirmed so don't even try to protest that one," he added when Draco opened his mouth to do just that. "And it's too dangerous for either of us now that you're a Death Eater."

Malfoy paled and drew back a little. "What?"

"Don't even try to deny it, Malfoy. You practically told me yourself that you are one." Harry shook his head, looking away. "If Voldemort ever found out we're together...I don't want to be responsible for what he'd do to you. For what your father would do."

"What makes you think I'm a Death Eater?" Malfoy asked in a hollow voice. "You know I hate them."

Harry laughed bitterly. "Isn't it obvious? I've known since you wouldn't let Madam Malkin mess with your left sleeve in Diagon. And you did practically tell me yourself, back in January. The only reason no one else will believe me is that no one else thinks Voldemort would accept a sixteen-year-old into his ranks, but I know Voldemort better than that."

"Maybe you don't know him well enough," Malfoy snapped. Harry just smiled grimly.

"No, but you do, don't you?"

Malfoy bit his lip and looked away.

"Why, Draco?" Harry asked softly, reaching out to touch Malfoy's cheek.

Malfoy shook his head, refusing to look at him. "It's...really complicated, Harry. Believe me, I didn't want it. I never wanted it. I hate the Dark Lord. I want him to die and horrible, slow, painful death, preferably at your hands."

Harry frowned slightly. "You didn't say his name."

"What?"

"Voldemort. You called him 'the Dark Lord.' You did that once before..."

Malfoy shrugged uncomfortably. "Things are different now."

"You're afraid of him," Harry said bluntly.

Malfoy let out his own bitter laugh. "_Afraid_? Harry, I fear no one. I'm _terrified_."

"That's the same thing," Harry said with a brief smile.

"They are _not_," Malfoy said, though his expression hadn't changed. "What can I do? He'll—" He suddenly seemed to think he'd spoken too much and quickly shut his mouth.

Harry's eyes narrowed. Malfoy had mentioned this in January too, and he'd been just as tight-lipped about it. Annoyed at Malfoy though he may be, _no one_ was allowed to threaten the blond. "He'll do _what_?"

"I can't tell you, Harry; please don't ask me again," Malfoy said frantically, glancing around as though to make sure they weren't being overheard. Harry's hatred of Voldemort increased ten-fold in that instant.

"I won't, Draco," he murmured. "Your secret's safe with me."

Harry's heart nearly broke at the relieved expression that formed on Malfoy's face. "Thank you, Harry."

Harry smiled faintly when he felt Draco's fingers touched his cheek, but the gesture had reminded him of the one thing he hadn't yet hadn't the courage to say.

"Draco," he murmured, reaching up to grab Draco's hand. "There's one more reason I broke up with you..."

"What is it?"

"I..." Harry paused, collecting himself. It was much harder to say this aloud than to think it. "It feels like you don't love me as much anymore..."

The words were barely out of his mouth when Draco's lips suddenly covered his own. He moaned softly, leaned up to press closer to the other boy; how he'd missed this!

"Never think that," Draco whispered against his lips, his silver-blue eyes boring into Harry's green ones. "I have never loved you more than I do now, and I'll love you even more as time passes. Never assume that I'll ever lose my feelings for you."

"Draco..." Harry murmured, but that was all he could managed before Draco cut him off again. He was starting to feel a little light headed from the passion Draco was portraying just in these simple kisses. How could he have ever doubted the blond?

"I can't live without you, Harry," Draco murmured as he pulled away again. "I mean that literally. I've been slowly dying these past few months. I can barely sleep; I have no appetite; my magic's been going haywire. I've been so afraid you hate me..."

"Don't," Harry answered, cupping Draco cheek with his hand. "I love you as much as ever. That's why this is all so difficult."

"Will you take me back?" Draco whispered.

"Is that a good idea?" Harry responded, feeling crushed. He'd like nothing better. "With all that's going on, is that really a good idea?"

"No." Draco's eyes slid closed for a brief moment, then he pressed another kiss to Harry's lips before sitting back again. "No, it's not."

"I want you back, Draco, I do," Harry said, making sure he looked as sincere as possible. "I never wanted to break up with you in the first place. I promise, as soon as it's safe, I'll go running back into your arms, like you wanted once."

Draco smiled faintly. "I thought you weren't a girl?"

"I'm not, thank Merlin. But I think it would be appropriate anyway."

"It would." Draco glanced down at his watch, stole another kiss, and stood. "I have to go; I've been here far too long. I'll see you...?"

"Soon," Harry said with a faint smile. "Promise. I love you."

Draco granted him a breathtaking smile. "I love you too, Harry. Always."

Harry stayed up long after Draco had left, various thoughts drifting though his head, the foremost being, _how long has it been since I let him kiss me?_

* * *

"We seem to visit each other in the hospital a lot, don't we?" Harry whispered as he watched Draco's still form. The wounds from the previous day were nearly healed, but Harry was sure that, at least in his eyes, Draco would always have a long scar from his _Sectumsempra_ curse. He could hardly believe what had happened; indeed, he would have thought it was some horrible dream if Draco weren't still here. 

"I'm so sorry, Draco," Harry whispered, knowing he had never uttered anything so truthful in all his life. "I never meant to use that spell on you. McLaggen maybe, but you'd agree with that. I didn't even know what it did!"

For the past day, nothing had been worse than not seeing Draco in class and knowing he was still healing in the hospital. They shared nearly all of their classes, so he felt the lack of Draco's presence very acutely. Nothing, not Snape's detentions, not loosing the Potions book, not being reprimanded by McGonagall or his team mates, could top how awful he felt every time he glanced at Draco's empty seat.

"I was just so _angry_, you know?" Harry went on, feeling horrible about it. "You've been so distant, and I do know why, but it still hurts. And then I saw you crying, _crying_, in front of Moaning Myrtle and you've _never_ cried in front of me, not even when I broke up with you..."

That in itself had hurt him the most; that Draco would trust some ghost to cry in front of and not him. He knew he hadn't been a very good boyfriend or real friend the past few months, but he'd thought they'd been past that. After all, _how_ many times had he cried in front of Draco, even when he knew it was breaking the blond's heart to watch him?

"I know you were probably angry too," Harry murmured. "I've been horrible to you all year, and you've been doing the best you could. And then I just snuck up on you while you were vulnerable...I'd be angry too. But I didn't mean it, Draco. I never, ever meant to use that on you..."

"Of course I was angry, you prat."

Harry started and stared wide-eyed down at him. He hadn't realized Draco was awake.

"How else am I supposed to feel?" Draco demanded, glaring up at him. "You've left me for that...that...Weasley whore."

Harry paled, feeling slightly sick. "I'm not going out with Ginny, Draco. And don't call her that!"

"Not yet," Draco spat, looking away.

"I can't help how I feel," Harry said desperately. "Do you think I _want_ to like her? Ron would kill me, you'd kill me, I'd kill myself. But I can't help it."

"Of course you can't. It was the same thing with Cedric."

"Please don't bring him up—"

Draco let out a bitter laugh. "It's not like you can't still talk to him. Am I always going to be in the back seat when it comes to your relationships?"

"What? No! I mean...I..." Harry shook his head, feeling slightly desperate. "I love _you_, Draco. But you've been so distant this year, what am I supposed to do? We're sixteen; these things are just going to creep up on us. What if there's someone else out there we'll start loving more than each other?"

"There isn't anyone else for me, Harry," Draco said coldly.

Harry blinked, completely taken aback. "What are you talking about? There could be."

"There isn't," Draco said. "And there can't be anyone else for you either. We're meant for each other. There is no one else."

"How can you be so sure?"

Draco suddenly paled and shook his head. "I...I just am. Besides, does it feel right with your Weasley? Are you happier with her?"

"I told you, I'm not going out with Ginny," Harry said, puzzling over Draco's previous statements. Why was he so sure? Did it have anything to do with that "I'll die if you reject me" stuff?

"Anyway," Draco continued as though the argument had never happened, "I was angry and upset for other reasons, those you listed and a couple others. I'm in a bad way right now."

"I know; I heard that. Voldemort's threatened to kill you if you don't do what he's asked. That's what you've been hiding from me, isn't it?"

"Yes, because he said he'd kill me anyway if anyone found out." Draco sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm as good as dead. I'm not a master at Occlumency yet; he'll pluck it right out of my mind and kill me."

"You're good enough to stop Snape," Harry pointed out before he could stop himself.

Draco's eyes flew open and he shot up to a sitting position. "How do you know about that?"

Harry paled and leaned back a little, highly aware that Draco could still use magic without his wand. "I followed you and Snape the night of Slughorn's party. Why do you think I was able to catch up with you after you left?"

"You were spying on me?"

"Draco, I've been spying on you all year," Harry admitted warily. "Although I still don't know what you're up to."

Draco glared at him for a moment before lying down again with a wince. "Well, I don't suppose I'll be any more dead if I show you this, seeing as you already know all my other secrets. _Aperecium_," he murmured, passing his right hand over his left arm. Harry watched in horror as black lines formed on Draco's flesh.

"It's real," Harry murmured, taking Draco's arm into his hands so he could examine the Dark Mark more closely.

"I thought you had no doubts that I'm a Death Eater," Draco sneered, though he allowed his arm to be examined.

Harry looked up at him with a pained expression. "I was hoping I was wrong."

"Well you're not. Are you happy now?" Draco muttered, looking away. He tensed in surprise when Harry suddenly hugged him around the neck.

"No, I'm not," Harry whispered. "When did it happen?"

Draco was silent for a moment, obviously contemplating whether he should answer. He finally whispered back, "On your birthday. I was told it would happen a week before, when I stopped writing you."

"Draco..." Harry pressed his lips to Draco's, pouring all the emotions he could into the kiss. Draco tensed before kissing back just as desperately, though he quickly pulled away. Harry was shocked to see tears running down his cheeks.

"I'm so scared, Harry," Draco sobbed, clinging to him. "I'm scared of being scared, and of the Dark Lord, and of losing you..."

"I'm scared too," Harry admitted softly, brushing the tears from Draco's face. "I almost lost you yesterday. I don't want that to happen again."

"But it will," Draco whispered hoarsely. "I'll have to go back to him eventually, and he'll kill me. Merlin, Harry, I don't want to die!"

"I know, Draco; I know," Harry said softly, stroking Draco's cheek with his thumb.

"I'm so scared...I don't want to die...I don't want to leave you...but no one can help me...and he's going to kill me..."

Harry forced back the lump that formed in his throat as he held his broken lover, letting Draco cry as much as he wanted. He was sure he wasn't doing a very good job of comforting the blond, but he couldn't help but try. It was the least he could do after all the times Draco had held him while he wept.

A familiar feeling of anger bubbled up in his chest as Draco's murmurs grew weaker and his breathing slowed until he was clearly fast asleep. Voldemort would pay for reducing Draco to this; nothing else mattered more than destroying the man who had done this. Draco should never have to worry about anything but grades and how to style his hair. He did not deserve to be so broken.

Harry carefully slid out of Draco's grasp and lay him back down. He pulled out his wand and concealed the Dark Mark again, the lump forming in his throat again as he looked at it. His fingers brushed over the tear tracks on his love's face before curling into a fist.

"Voldemort is going to answer for this, Draco," he murmured, even though Draco could no longer hear him. "I'll make him pay. Malfoys aren't supposed to fear anything."

* * *

Harry woke to find a piece of parchment sitting on his forehead. He picked it up with little interest; he'd hardly felt any emotion other than anger and determination since he'd seen Dumbledore's body on the ground the previous day. However, as he looked over the note, his heart stopped. 

_Harry,_

_If you're reading this, I'm either dead or Dumbledore is and I've escaped. Either way, I'm no longer around to tell you this myself._

_What I've been doing all year is trying to fix that Vanishing Cabinet Montague got trapped in last year (courtesy of the twins, I believe). He told me that when he was trapped, he could hear what was going on in the school and in Borgin and Burkes. Turns out there are a pair of them and they form a sort of passage between them._

_I managed to fix the Hogwarts one just now, so my plan will be going into effect tonight. It's in the Room of Requirement, and you need to think about a giant storage room to get in there. As soon as my plan is accomplished, you'll be the only one who knows what it does, so it'll be yours._

_As for the one in Borgin and Burkes—over the Christmas holiday, I bought it. I also told Borgin that the ownership of it must transfer to you after the first time the Death Eaters use it. So, it's probably yours now, if Death Eaters went through into the school. If I failed and they didn't, I'm sure you can buy it from me through Borgin._

_You can do whatever you wish with them. I'm sure you'll find them useful somehow. Think of this as a very, very late Winter Solstice, Christmas, and Spring Equinox present._

_I'm sorry I've been such a jerk to you this year. Thank you for understanding in the end._

_I still love you, always and forever._

_Draco_

_P.S. Dump the Weasley bitch _now_. I don't want her around when I get back._

A lump formed in his throat near the end, but he blinked back any tears, unwilling to let them mar this letter. The only letter Draco had sent him in almost a year. A letter that made it sound as though he thought he would never be coming back.

As he read over it again, he realized what Draco had been trying to tell him; he was now the owner of both Vanishing Cabinets, since the Death Eaters had used them to get into Hogwarts. He now had a way to get in and out of Hogwarts without anyone knowing that was what he was doing. It must have cost Draco a lot to get the ownership to transfer to Harry like that.

Harry carefully folded up the letter and stuck in a pocket of his robes. Plans for the two cabinets were already forming in his head as he started getting dressed, the listlessness he'd been feeling since the previous night all but gone. He just did not deserve Draco; the other boy was too good to him.

That night at midnight, Harry checked over the Marauder's Map again as he crept out of Gryffindor Tower. As he no longer had his Invisibility Cloak, he had to be extra careful that he not run into anyone. Once satisfied that no one was nearby, he silently crept down the corridor, heading in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. Getting his cloak back was of the utmost importance; once he was sure he wouldn't be seen, he could complete the rest of tonight's mission.

The corridor was still a mess and stairs of the tower were still partially blocked, but it was easy to pick his way through the stones in his determination. He raced up to the top, pushed open the door, and stepped out into the cool night air. There he paused, looking around.

Only twenty-four hours before, Draco was standing in this same spot, his wand aimed at Dumbledore in a shaking hand, the sounds of battle raging beneath his feet. He must have been terrified. Harry closed his eyes and tried to imagine what I must have been like, but couldn't quite manage it. Perhaps because his own memories of that night had been burned into his mind by his own terror.

He walked over to where his cloak lay forgotten on the stones, avoiding letting his gaze travel over to where Dumbledore had been standing the night before. Yes, now he could remember everything clearly and could imagine what could have happened even more clearly; Draco lowering his wand and dropping to his knees, the enchantment on himself lifting so he could rush over and gather his blond into his arms, apologies for ever doubting him streaming from his mouth.

It was obvious now that Draco had only joined the Death Eaters to protect the people he cared for—his parents, the SG, himself, and Harry. Harry was a little ashamed that he hadn't figured it out earlier; Draco had learned Occlumency, after all, and what reason would he have to do that than to keep certain secrets a secret? He had simply assumed that Draco's reason was the reason he'd given Snape, and he heartily wished now that he hadn't.

Harry shook himself free of such depressing thoughts, pulled on his cloak, and descended the stairs again. He didn't have time to be daydreaming; there was only so much time he could afford being out of the tower before he risked getting in trouble.

Minutes later, he stopped in front of the blank wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy getting walloped by his dancing trolls. He stared at it thoughtfully; now came the hard part. Draco had told him what the room he wanted would look like, and he did remember seeing the cabinet in there when he'd been trying to hide the Prince's Potions book, but he still wasn't sure he'd be able to get in there. He'd never wanted a specific room before; he always gone with whatever the room decided to give him.

Figuring it couldn't hurt to try something, Harry closed his eyes and began to walk, imagining the huge room he wanted.

_I need the storage room...I need the storage room...I need the storage room..._

After his third pass, he paused for a moment, his heart pounding in anticipation. Slowly, he opened his eyes and turned to face the wall—

—and the door was there.

Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and rushed over to open the door. He grinned as soon as he stepped inside. Yes, this was exactly what he had wanted: the huge cathedral piled with hundreds of years worth of junk. Over in the nearest corner, he thought he saw a mound of sherry bottles, but he wasn't certain.

He headed forward into the junk, knowing that if he tried to find his Potions book, he'd find the Vanishing Cabinet, since he'd passed it when he was hiding the book. He was in no real hurry, so he took his time to look around this time. It was amazing how much was actually here; it seemed he would be able to find anything he could ever want. He was almost tempted to leave the cabinet where it was, except that he would rather it be where he was going to put it: right in the SGC.

It was the ideal spot. From there, he would be able to get into Hogwarts if he ever needed to as well as Hogsmeade. He would have to move its partner out of Borgin and Burkes, and he wasn't yet sure where it would go, but he still had several more days to decide.

He spotted the cupboard that he'd hidden the Potions book in ahead and backtracked a bit to where he'd turned. There it was, the Vanishing Cabinet. It looked innocent enough, but Harry knew it was a main cause of Dumbledore's death. He hoped that by using it himself, he could get rid of the harsh aura that now surrounded it.

"_Mobilicabinet__!"_ he intoned, pointing his wand at the cabinet. It rose a few inches off the ground and hovered there, waiting for him to move it. He nearly did, but then he glanced over at the cupboard where the Prince's book was hidden.

Though he now loathed Snape as much as Voldemort, and though he'd nearly killed Draco with one of the spells inside, he couldn't deny that the book had taught, and could still teach him, more than any teacher ever had. After a moment of indecision, he retrieved the book before moving to lead the Vanishing Cabinet to the door.

Now was the most difficult part. He had to get the cabinet to the SGC three floors down without getting caught. He could only imagine what might happen if the cabinet was spotted floating about on its own, but he doubted the result would be good for him. Carefully, he checked the map again before setting off, moving slowly but steadily.

He had just reached the fifth floor and was examining over the map again when a shout of "Harry!" made him stop in his tracks and look around. There, running down the stairs Harry had just stepped off of, was Angelo.

"Angelo! What are you doing here?" Harry asked, amazed and bewildered, as Angelo stopped just in front of him on the last step. He didn't bother to ask how the man had seen him; he had changed a little in the year since Harry had last seen him—his hair was a little longer, he'd gained an eyebrow ring, and he now had a sword strapped to his side—but he was still the same Vampire who had seen through his cloak back in fourth year.

"I checked Gryffindor Tower, but you were not there, so I thought I might check the SGC," Angelo answered, absently running his fingers through his hair. "I am glad I found you. I need to talk to you about a few things."

"You know the password?" Harry said in shock.

Angelo smiled faintly. "I know how to get into the tower without it. I have always been good friends with the Weasley twins, remember."

"Why were you looking for me?" Harry asked curiously.

"I heard about what happened to the Headmaster," Angelo murmured, suddenly looking more upset than Harry had ever seen him. "However, all I have heard is that he died and you were there to see it. I was hoping you could tell me what happened."

"I...sure," Harry said, taking another look at Angelo's expression. "But it'll have to wait until we get to the SGC."

"Of course. Is that where you are taking that cabinet?" Anglo asked, gesturing at the hovering cabinet.

"Yeah. It'll be a lot more useful there than where I got it from."

"Would you like for me to hide it for you?"

Harry blinked in surprise. "You can do that?"

"Yes. Like this." Angelo closed his eyes, raised a hand, and mimed pulling down an invisible curtain. The Vanishing Cabinet disappeared.

"Thanks," Harry said, reaching out a hand to touch the invisible wood so he could still guide it. He used his other hand to lift up the bottom of the cloak. "You can hide under here with me so we won't be seen."

"That is an excellent idea, thank you." Angelo ducked under the cloak with Harry, who found it quite hard to not think of how close to him Angelo now had to be.

"Is Kiran here too?" Harry asked softly as they began walking again.

"No, he never liked the Headmaster very much," Angelo murmured. "He will come for the funeral, but not before. Aaron and Oliver will be coming as well."

"What about Dom?"

"I am afraid not. Warrington has joined the Death Eaters, so it would be rather dangerous for both of them. I think Alexander and Vincent will be coming, though, and Will may as well. You have not corresponded with him," he added at Harry's confused glance. "The Talbots have been written for him and his master for almost two years now. They seem to be the only ones able to find them."

"His...master?"

Angelo nodded. "Will told me that in his second year, his life was threatened, though he never mentioned how. Lyon saved him and nearly died himself. Instead of waiting to fulfil his life-debt, Will decided to bind himself into Lyon's service."

"Ah. Like you?"

Angelo smiled faintly down at him. "Yes, a little like that."

"I can't wait to meet them," Harry said, fully aware that he really had no idea what he had gotten himself into.

"I was also thinking that we could have a small alliance meeting after the funeral, since they will be there. It will give you a chance to meet them and the leaders of a few other groups who may join the alliance."

"What about the Weasleys and, well, everyone?" Harry said, unsure of whether he liked the idea or not. "No one knows we even know each other, much less that I have my own alliance."

"Do you care if they found out?"

Harry frowned slightly; he honestly did not know whether he cared or not. It would complicate quite a few things, but he would be glad to have at least one secret off his chest.

"It is the end of an era, Harry," Angelo murmured. Harry glanced back at him and was startled to see that his eyes were very distant. "You do not have to decide now, but please think about it."

"I will," Harry promised. As they had reached the mirror, he moved forward to open it and led the Vanishing Cabinet into the SGC. He glanced around and decided to guide it over to stand in a corner near the fireplace. Angelo ducked out from under the Invisibility Cloak to sit in his old spot. Harry draped the cloak over the back of his loveseat but bypassed it to sit next to him.

"You wanted to know what happened last night?" Harry started, steeling himself.

"Yes, please. I believe Aaron already knows, but he would not tell me when I asked." Angelo shook his head with a sigh. "I have been able to See very little about it."

"It's going to take a while. I wrote you about a few things, but not a lot of others."

"You will find I am a very patient person," Angelo said with a brief smile.

Harry nodded and began describing everything that had happened the previous night, starting with Dumbledore's summons to his office. After a moment of thought, he decided not to explain about the Horcruxes, saying that they had gone to find something that would help to destroy Voldemort but that he couldn't say what it was or what had really happened.

Angelo stayed respectfully silent as he spoke, something that threw him off a little since he was used to explaining these things to Draco, and Draco simply could not keep his mouth shut. In fact, the only way Harry could tell that Angelo was actually listening was the way the Vampire's eye colour shifted between according to his emotions, finally settling on red and staying there when Harry revealed Dumbledore's murderer.

Angelo remained silent for a moment once Harry finished, his eyes narrowed in thought. The first words out of his mouth were not something Harry had expected to hear.

"I have know and trusted Severus Snape for eight years," Angelo said, sounding almost mournful.  
"I had hoped I was wrong about him, but I cannot say I am surprised he is the one responsible."

"He's evil," Harry muttered. "I've always known that."

"Evil is too strong a word, Harry," Angelo said softly. "There are things about Severus that you will probably never know or understand which have made him who he is. There are also aspects of him you have never known and probably will never know, I am sure. I must admit that I have never understood the animosity he feels toward you and you toward him. He is not all bad, merely a very good Slytherin."

"You sound like you're in love with the git," Harry muttered bitterly, forcing himself to ignore the curiosity beginning to bubble under the surface. He hated Snape as much as Voldemort; he wasn't allowed to be curious about him.

Angelo smiled faintly. "I have an immense amount of respect for Severus. Yes, even now," he added at Harry's incredulous stare. "He is the epitome of Slytherin, an honourable and caring man, and an excellent Potions Master—one better, perhaps, than has been seen in a hundred years. He did much for me in the years I attended Hogwarts."

"Honourable and caring? Snape?" Harry said, more incredulous than before.

"I did say there are aspects of him that you have never seen. He would never show you anything but hatred, and emotion you return in kind. But Severus has always cared deeply for his students and his friends; it is what made him such an excellent Head of House. Is McGonagall not like that with your House."

"Yeah, she is," Harry said, thinking of his stern but still oddly kind Head of House.

"I cannot ask you to stop hating Severus, nor would I," Angelo said, "but I must ask you not to hate me for being unable to."

"He killed Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed vehemently.

"I am aware of that, but I also know that he would not have done it unless he believed he had no other choice. I am a Slytherin myself, Harry, in cased you had forgotten."

Harry gaped at him.

"I am also a Vampire and best friends with a shaman," Angelo continued. "My ideas concerning death are a little different than yours."

Harry sighed. "Well, I can't hate you anyway. You're too nice."

Angelo laughed. "I am glad for that, at least. Thank you for telling me what you could about what happened."

Harry nodded once. "He would have wanted you to know. Are you staying in Hogsmeade?"

"Oh no, Hogsmeade is already far too crowded. I was going to stay here in the SGC." Angelo gestured at the bed where a couple suitcases lay on top of the mattress. "Aaron and Oliver are going to join me when they arrive. Unless you are offering to let me stay with you up in the tower?" he added teasingly.

Harry forcing himself not to blush at the images _that_ brought up. "No, I think Ron would throw a fit."

Angelo laughed again. "Pity. I was so looking forward to being the first thing he sees when he wakes in the morning, looming over his bed with my fangs bared."

Harry laughed as well. "He'd deserve it."

_

* * *

_

"Harry!"

All three of them turned at the shout, Harry with a very different expression than his friends.

"What are you doing here?" Ron demanded as Angelo and Kiran stopped in front of them followed by a group of unfamiliar people, all of them older than the two in front.

"We wished to pay our respects to the Headmaster," Angelo answered coldly. "He did much for us while we attended Hogwarts."

"Anyway, we aren't here to argue with you," Kiran added, hardly glancing at the red-head. "We're here for Harry."

Ron sputtered and stared at them as though they had all turned bright blue. "What? What do you need with Harry?"

"Calm down, Ron. They're not here to cause trouble." Harry ignored the incredulous stares now centred on him in favour of his allies. "Did you want to go somewhere else?"

"No, we can stay here. It is a lovely spot," Angelo said. "Your friends may stay too, as long as they stay quiet."

Ron opened his mouth to protest, but Hermione clamped her hand over it and smiled at Angelo. "We will, don't worry. Come on, Ron." She dragged him a short distance away behind the tree, not once letting his mouth free.

Kiran rolled his eyes. "You'd think after a year of zero contact with us that he'd be over it, but of course, he's still just as stupid."

"And he's still my friend," Harry said warningly. "But I have to agree with you here. I didn't realize you'd come looking for me so soon or I'd have warned him."

"It is fine. We are used to it," Angelo said, waving it off. He gestured to the small group standing behind him. "There are a few people who would like to meet you."

At that, two of the men stepped forward, one with black hair that put his one to shame and the other with dirty-blond. The black haired man was looking him over critically, but the blond grinned and held a hand out to him.

"I'm Alexander, and my over-fastidious friend here—"

"Alex!" the man snapped, sending him a scathing glare.

"Sorry, my incredibly intelligent, crafty, extraordinarily sexy friend here is Vincent."

"It's nice to meet you," Harry said with a laugh as he took Alex's hand.

Vincent was frowning again. "You don't seem like a Gryffindor to me..."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Who cares what House he's in? We aren't in school anymore. Besides, he's a Seeker, which is way better than what you were."

Vincent scowled at him again.

Angelo shook his head in silent laughter. "I will never understand how you two got together."

"We aren't that different," Vincent said with a shrug. "And I am sexy, like he said."

Harry laughed aloud again; oh yes, he was going to love having these two around.

"I think you two are lucky Mandisa moved to Japan last year," said the strangest man as he stepped forward. "You'd both have your mouths cursed off your faces by now if she were here."

Alex shuddered slightly. "Don't mention her, Bran. It's bad enough that she doesn't realize we only do this for fun."

"It does not seem like it to someone who's known you for so many years," Bran replied with a faint smirk. He gave Harry a low bow. "My name is Bran Kenyon. It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Harry."

"You work with Angelo, right?" Harry asked with a small bow of his own as he stared at the man. Bran looked as though he'd had all of his colour bleached out of him and yet dressed in dark colours as though to accentuate that fact. Harry had never seen anyone like him.

Bran smiled faintly, either unaware or uncaring of the staring. "Yes, I do. I'm surprised you remembered."

"Of course I remembered," Harry said, a little amused. Bran's smile grew larger and he nodded once.

"This is Will," he said, gesturing at the very normal looking man behind him. "He's been busy doing something for the Department of Mysteries, so he's still a little disoriented."

"Not so much that I can't introduce myself, Bran," Will muttered, though his voice held a tinge of something, respect perhaps, as he spoke to the albino. He thrust a hand forward for Harry to take. "It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you from the Talbots."

"Likewise," Harry said as he shook Will's hand.

"You're still the Seeker?" Will asked with a smile.

"Yeah, since first year. Why?"

"I play Seeker too. Well, when I can." Will grinned slightly. "You and Charlie were always way better than me. I didn't get to play much at school."

"You're a Gryffindor?" Harry said in surprise.

Will grinned further. "Nope, Hufflepuff, but between the two of you, I was in the air for about an hour during all seven years."

"I'm not that good, am I?" Harry asked in shock. He'd always heard about Charlie Weasley, the legend, but he never believed he would live up to that. He'd only won one Quidditch final, after all.

"Harry, you caught that one Snitch in about five minutes. That's good."

"That was the Hufflepuff game, too, wasn't it? Sorry."

Will shook his head. "Don't be; it was amazing. We'll just have to find time to play again."

"Definitely."

The last man cleared his throat and stepped forward. Harry was slightly stunned by his appearance; he was extremely beautiful for a man with very gentle features and bleach-blond hair. Yet even though the man rivalled Angelo and Kiran in terms of attractiveness, Harry instinctively did not like him. It was like when he'd met Snape for the first time.

"Aether Delaney," the man said silkily, holding his hand out to Harry. Harry reluctantly took it and nearly recoiled again when Aether lifted it to his lips. "But you are most welcome to call me just Aether, Harry."

"Aether!" Angelo snapped, glaring at the man. Aether smiled indulgently and let Harry's hand go.

"Forgive me, but no mere Veela deserves beauty such as this," Aether murmured, his eyes blatantly roving over Harry. Harry had to force himself not to flinch.

"You're a Veela?" he asked instead.

Aether smiled again, this time reveal two long fangs. "A vampire, Elfin tribe. We can walk in sunlight," he added at Harry's shocked look.

""I haven't written you then, have I?" Harry asked, glad he didn't have to worry about why he hadn't recognized the man's name.

"No, I wished to meet you in person first. I am glad that I did," Aether added, looking Harry's over again. Harry made a mental note to never end up alone with this man.

"I think we should head for the train now," Angelo said, stepping between them. "It will be leaving very soon. Weasley and Miss Hermione are welcome to join us, Harry."

"Thanks." Harry gave him a grateful smile and gestured to Ron and Hermione that they could come back over.

"We're going to head for the train now," he explained. "Try to be civil; they're my friends too," he added to Ron.

"I will if they do," Ron muttered, glaring at Angelo and Kiran.

"You're the one who started all this," Kiran sneered back.

"Kiran, you have to be civil too," Harry said sternly, wondering vaguely if this was how a parent felt. "Either you do it willingly, or I order you to."

Kiran glared at him but nodded.

"Harry, what's going on?" Hermione asked softly as they started towards the few carriages remaining.

Harry shook his head. "We'll explain in the carriage, okay? I don't want anyone to overhear."

"Okay..."

Harry was immensely grateful to Angelo when he closed to door to their carriage before Aether could join them, so it was only the four of them. He almost felt sorry for Kiran, as the blond had to put up with the creepy, pervert vampire, but was sure Kiran could look out for himself.

As soon as Angelo sat down, the carriage started moving and Harry felt the stares of his other two friends immediately turn onto him.

"All right, Harry, I think you owe us an explanation," Ron said, obviously trying hard to check his anger. "What are you doing with _him_?"

Harry glanced over at Angelo, wondering how much he should reveal. Angelo smiled warmly and took one of his hands.

"Just tell them about us," Angelo said softly, but plainly loud enough for the other two to hear. "Now is not the time for anything else."

Harry nodded and took a deep breath before turning back to his friends, both of whom looked horrified by the exchange.

"_Us_?" Ron demanded before he could speak. "You're not..._together_?"

"No!" Harry said with a laugh. If only they knew. "Kiran would rip me apart if we tried it. No, it's not that."

"We're listening," Hermione said, sounding patient but obviously angry.

Harry sighed; this would be painful. "All right, remember when I said that in fourth year, I ran into Angelo Feeding on Kiran in the hall and that's how I knew him?"

The two nodded slowly.

"Well, that's not exactly what happened. I did run into Angelo in the hall—in front of the RoR actually. I think he was going there to Feed..." Harry glanced questioningly over at the Vampire.

"Yes, that is what I used it for," Angelo said with a nod. "Kiran was already waiting for me inside. He usually went up first."

"Right. So, I ran into him and he, ah, kissed me..."

"He what!" Ron exclaimed, glaring accusingly at Angelo.

"Then Kiran showed up and stopped him and they left me alone after that."

"Did you like it?" Ron demanded.

"W-what?" Harry said in surprise. Out of every response he thought of, that was not one of them.

"You heard me."

"That doesn't have anything to do with this," Harry said coldly. The truth was that he had and he knew he wasn't ready for Ron to know that yet.

"The blood-bond, Harry," Angelo murmured.

Harry nodded once. "Anyway, around Christmas, Angelo and Kiran approached me and pledged to protect me. Angelo gave me a vial of his blood, and Kiran gave me a dagger that binds him to me. They've been my allies through bonding magic ever since."

"For two and a half years?" Hermione said in shock.

"Yeah. We've met up a few times since then, and they've helped me learn a few more advanced spells and techniques. We've become pretty good friends. I'm really glad we ran into each other that first time."

"About that," Ron muttered, glaring at Angelo again. "Why did you do any of that? You're a Slytherin and a Vampire; you must be trying to corrupt him or something."

"Ron!" both Harry and Hermione hissed, but Angelo simply smiled.

"Everything I have done for Harry, I have done because I love him," Angelo answered simply. Harry stared at him in shock; he hadn't realized Angelo's feelings were that serious. "At first I was merely curious about him, but it has evolved into love the longer I have known him. But I love Kiran a little more and am as loyal as I can be to him, so I have to express my feelings in other ways, such as with a blood-bond."

Angelo shrugged slightly and added, "Of course, part of it was that both Kiran and I were feeling ripples caused by the danger he was in at the end of that year and we wanted to make sure he would be safe. He never had the opportunity to use what we gave him, but we could not have known that."

"I didn't realize you liked me that much," Harry said in awe.

Angelo smiled over at him. "I did tell you when I gave you my blood, as did Blaise."

"Blaise? Zabini?"

"Yeah, but neither of you used the word 'love.'" Harry suddenly grinned. "Does Kiran know?"

"Of course. I cannot hide anything from him. He knows me better than myself at times." Angelo shrugged slightly. "That is why he hated you so much at first."

"I'm glad he doesn't anymore," Harry said with a laugh.

"Hold on, what about Zabini?" Ron demanded.

"That time Blaise pulled me aside in the hall, he was warning me about Angelo," Harry said simply.

"Any other explanations will have to wait, however," Angelo said as the carriage came to a stop. Almost before any of them had noticed, Angelo was out on the ground holding the door open for them. He helped both Harry and Hermione out, but left Ron to fend for himself. As soon as the carriage was empty, Angelo wrapped and arm around Harry's waist and began leading him quickly through the crowd.

"I don't want to give Aether the chance to drag you off somewhere," Angelo explained at Harry's embarrassed frown. Harry nodded and relaxed a little.

"Why is he here anyway?" Harry asked softly, glancing around. "He seems really..."

"Crude?" Angelo laughed softly and nodded. "Yes, he is, and I did not ask him to come; he asked me if he could. Aether takes some getting used to, but he is a very useful contact—"

"Harry!"

They bother turned to find Lupin running toward them through the crowd. Lupin stopped short when he noticed Angelo and they shared looks of equal dislike.

"What is he doing here?" Lupin asked Harry, though he was still glaring at Angelo.

"He's a friend of mine and a friend of Dumbledore's," Harry answered. "What is it?"

"We'll have to discuss it on the train," Lupin said, shaking his head. "You're his friend?" he demanded of Angelo, sounding extremely sceptical.

Angelo smirked slightly, and, before anyone could react, he turned Harry around and pressed a fervent kiss to his lips. Harry only distantly heard gasps from nearly everyone nearby and shouts of both of their names from distant people, but found he hardly cared what they thought anymore; it felt good getting all these secrets off his chest. When Angelo finally let him go, he returned the Vampire's mischievous smirk.

"You are welcome to discuss whatever it is with Harry on the train," Angelo murmured, his eyes glinting as he leered at Lupin. "But it will have to be in the presence of others. Harry already had an alliance meeting to attend."

"An alliance meeting?" Lupin repeated, looking flabbergasted.

Angelo nodded once and began guiding Harry towards the train again. "Come, Harry, there are a few other people you haven't met yet."

"Okay. Come on, Remus," Harry said as he let Angelo lead him onto the train, leaving numerous stunned faces behind.

"Forgive me," Angelo murmured once they were on the train. "I had no right to—"

"Are you kidding? That was brilliant," Harry said with a grin. "Did you see the look on Remus's face? Serves him right for treating you like that."

"You did not mind?" Angelo asked in surprise.

Harry fought to keep the blush from his face as he shook his head. "I would have any other time, though," he said, trying to sound stern but only ending up teasing.

"What the fuck was that?"

Angelo turned with a slightly guilty expression though it was overridden by a stern one. "That, Kiran, let us escape from that insufferable werewolf."

"You promised you wouldn't do that again," Kiran hissed. "I trusted you to keep that."

"This is not the time or place to be discussing this," Angelo said softly. He slid open the door of the last compartment and gestured for Harry to go inside. "I will follow shortly. I need to talk to Kiran first."

Harry nodded and stepped inside, stopping short in the doorway. The inside of the compartment was huge, at least five times bigger than a normal compartment. It was also decorated in all the House colours, though green and silver were extremely prominent. The only light came from the lamps hanging from the ceiling, as the windows were either completely covered or none-existent. And rather than there being seats only alone two walls like usual, all four walls were lined with seats. It was amazing and perfect for an alliance meeting.

"You're blocking the doorway, Potter," came a harsh voice near one of the corners. "Come sit down."

Harry looked over to find a replica of Bran smirking back at him. On closer inspection, he was actually quite different, namely because of the huge black wing protruding from his back, but they could pass for brothers otherwise. Sitting behind him was a man who looked like he'd walked straight out of a book on ancient Egypt, though he was much paler than any people in those pictures Harry had ever seen.

The look-alike smirked and gave a mocking bow. "Hamal Kafele of many, many titles that I don't feel like stating. My handsome, extremely formal friend behind me is Minkah Astennu, also of too many titles. We're here to represent our lord, Prince Bran, because he's unable to make it."

"Uncle Hamal!" someone exclaimed behind Harry. The Bran he'd already met stepped past him into the compartment to greet the Vampire. Hamal smiled faintly and reached out to ruffle his look-alike's hair.

"Uncle...?" Harry wondered aloud, staring at them in shock.

"This Bran's descended from one of my sisters," Hamal explained, smirking as Bran unhappily tried to fix his hair. "Very, very distantly. He's not a Vampire."

"Not for lack of trying though," Bran muttered, taking a seat beside Minkah. "You could Turn me like _that_, but will you? No."

"You're too young," Hamal said, gaining a dark look.

"I'm older than you were with you were Turned."

"It was a different world then."

"This is not going to get anything done," Minkah interrupted softly. Both men fell silent instantly, which made Harry think that this happened quite often.

"Hamal, retract your wings and sit down," Minkah ordered, pointing at the other seat next to him. "Harry, there are some empty seats over there; you do not have to stand the whole time."

Harry nodded and took one of the empty seats, letting the mass of people who had gathered behind him enter the compartment. Angelo gave him a faint smile as he sat next to him, leaving Ron to take his other side, thankfully before Aether even appeared in the doorway.

"What is all this?" Ron hissed as the last few people settled in the remaining empty seats. "What's going on?"

"Just stay quiet and listen," Harry murmured back. "I'll explain everything later, but there's no time now."

"But—"

Hermione clapped her hand over his mouth again and gave Harry a faint smile.

The train started a short time after everyone was settled and Harry took the opportunity to see who all was there. He recognized almost everyone, either from already knowing them or having just been introduced to them. Every member of the SG, past and present, except for Lee and Dominique, was seated in one corner with himself and Angelo at the end of one side and Gabrielle at the other. Remus had taken the seat between Hermione and Will and was looking distinctly uncomfortable being near so many Vampires. The group he'd met outside was scattered among those who were already waiting on the train. To his surprise, Sanguini was sitting in the corner opposite him with two women Harry did not know. They were the only ones he didn't recognize.

Suddenly, everyone fell silent and stared over in Harry's direction. Harry blinked back at them, unsure of what to say. Thankfully, Angelo placed a light hand on his knee to reassure him.

"Thank you for coming today," Angelo said, his voice soft but still carrying. "I would never have asked any of you to abandon your lives for something frivolous."

Harry stared at him in awe. He sounded so different, almost like he did when he was controlling others but without the compulsion. If Angelo was like whenever he was around these other Vampires, he could understand why they had agreed to come and why Sanguini had said quite a few Vampires wanted Angelo for their leader.

"As all of you know, I am sure, the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort has risen again. Just recently, he struck a debilitating blow upon us, his enemies—the death of Dumbledore." Angelo paused and gained a faint smile. "However, what hardly anyone knows is that we have had a secret alliance opposing Voldemort for several years now. Once, it only consisted of a few students, but it now encompasses several hundred people. I hope that this number will increase in the future."

Angelo gestured at Harry with a larger smile. "Harry, of course, is the leader of our alliance, along with another student whom I cannot name at this point in time but is very close to Harry. They have always been—Dumbledore was never involved and hardly even knew of it. But Harry has asked me to represent him for a while until he gets the hang of leading so many people."

Harry nodded in agreement, more out of instinct than anything, feeling immensely grateful that Angelo had decided not to reveal Draco's identity yet.

"Who all is in it so far?" Alex asked curiously. "Obviously, all of our donors, and those guys..." He gestured vaguely at the few students that still made up the Hogwarts faction of the SG.

Angelo nodded once. "Several groups, yes. One group is the sixteen students that started it, although, again, I cannot name one of them—"

"We don't have sixteen; there're only fifteen," Harry interrupted, highly confused.

"No, there are sixteen," Angelo said with a smile. "Myself and Harry, of course, Kiran, Aaron, Oliver Wood, Seamus Finnigan, Blaise Zabini, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Gabrielle Cian, Fred and George Weasley, and Cedric Diggory. They are here today. There is also Lee Jordan, who is attending the Weasley's shop, and Dominique Warrington, who was unable to come for reasons of safety."

Harry's eyes widened and he glanced at Aaron. "That's right, Cedric can still be in it, can't he? So it is sixteen."

"Cedric Diggory's dead, Harry," Ron said, pushing off Hermione's hand. "We all saw him. You have those scars on your hand _because_ he's dead, or don't you remember?"

"Why wouldn't he remember? They're on his hand, Weasley," Aaron said, though Harry could tell right away that it wasn't really Aaron. Cedric must have been watching the whole time.

"Cedric! How have you been?" Harry immediately asked.

"Hey, Harry, long time, no see. I've been doing alright. It's not so bad, being dead," Cedric said with a grin. Ron gaped at them.

"Harry, that's not Diggory. He's dead."

Cedric smiled, shaking Aaron's head. "Aaron's a shaman, Wealsey. That means I can speak to you through him. How have _you_ been, Harry? Well, other than the obvious."

"You saw all that, then?" Harry said sheepishly.

"Of course," Cedric said. "And I have to say I'm extremely disappointed. I didn't leave you to him just for you two to fall apart."

Harry would have thought he was being serious except for the slight grin on his face. "We're doing better now. We've reached another level of understanding. I think we needed all this to get closer, actually."

"Good to hear it. It's been frustrating watching you two. If I we still around, I would have locked you together in a closet ages ago."

"Believe me, it's been frustrating for us, too."

"Who are you talking about," Ron asked curiously.

Harry smiled and shook his head. "I'll tell you later, Ron. Angelo, continue please?"

Angelo nodded once. "We also, like Alex said, have the support of most of my donors from school. Some have not answered me, and I fear the worst, and some were among the students in the aforementioned group, but all who have contacted me are willing to help. That's at least forty powerful witches and wizards, possibly more as they spread the word of our offer."

"That many?" Lupin blurted, speaking for the first time. He was gaping at Angelo.

"Yes, Professor, that many," Angelo said with a smirk. "We also have the support of at least half the Strigoii, I believe. Is that correct, Chancellor Sanguini?"

"Yes. A few of my people still feel the best course of action is to aid the Dark Angels—" here he nodded to Hamal and Minkah— "and a few simply do not want to get involved, but most of us support Harry. I am personally blood-bonded to him, and that has influenced many of my people."

"When did that happen?" Hermione hissed softly to Harry.

"Christmas party, after you'd left. Shhh."

"And that is several hundred more supporters," Angelo said with a nod. He looked rather pleased with himself and Harry could see why; Lupin was gaping at him again, astonished. He was sure the Order had never had so many people, in either incarnation.

"We also have Kiran's family," Angelo added as Kiran nodded in agreement. "But so far, those are the only groups that are definitely with us. That is why I have asked all of you here, so that you may decide whether or not to join us."

"I think we'd have to know what the benefits are first," Hamal said obnoxiously, earning himself a stern look from Minkah. "Other than the company, of course."

Angelo nodded and gained a faint smirk. "We have information that almost the entire population of werewolves in Britain have joined Voldemort's side."

"So we get to kill werewolves?" Hamal asked with a grin.

"You most certainly get to, yes," Angelo said.

"That's good enough for me."

"Hamal," Minkah murmured disapprovingly. He turned gentle black eyes back on Angelo. "That cannot be the only reason we should join. We do have our own war, as foolish as it is, as you well know. The Strigoii are not yet involved, so of course they may decide to join this _heka_ war without thought, but why should we stretch our resources?"

"Because Voldemort's not going to stop at the wizarding world," Harry said before Angelo could speak. "After our world, he's going to conquer the Muggles, and then all the other races, including the Vampires. Sanguini told me he hasn't approached you yet asking for support, and I can only guess it's because he knows you won't help him because you have your own society. But I doubt he'll leave you alone for much longer, and then you'll have to split your resources anyway."

"You seem to know him very well, Mr Potter," said one of the women with Sanguini.

"I've been fighting him almost every year since starting at Hogwarts," Harry said with a nod. "I saw him return, and I fought him in person in the Ministry itself a year ago. I've spent all this year learning what I could about him so I could find his weakness. So yes, I do know him very well, Miss...?"

"Victoria," she said with a small smile. "My husband is the leader of the Psychic Vampire tribe. We're the most concerned about You-Know-Who, I think. We were all born and raised in the Muggle and wizarding societies."

"Really?" Harry said, extremely interested. All the other Vampires seemed rather detached from the wizarding and Muggle worlds.

Victoria nodded. "We come into our inheritance as Vampires at seventeen, but before then, hardly any of us are aware of what we are. We're not sure why it happens, but then, no one knows why wizards can be born into pure Muggle families either."

"It's what makes Psychics so weak," Aether commented, sneering at her, "and weird."

Victoria simply smiled. "We're used to being dismissed by all communities. In fact, hardly anyone believes we exist except for the other tribes. But most of us still have family and loved ones in the communities we left behind, and many of us still live in those communities in the guise of what we once were. We have the most to lose if You-Know-Who takes over."

"Were you a witch?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yes, a Muggle-born actually. In Ravenclaw." Victoria winked over at Hermione when she suddenly perked up. "Anyway, we're willing to join you as long as we can be assured that you have a chance of defeating You-Know-Who. I think you do."

"Well, 'Sandra and I need a bit more reassurance than that," Aether said, sounding charming again now that he was speaking to Harry.

"I don't," the other woman said, eyeing Aether with annoyance.

"Of course you do. Aubrey said we have to make the decision together, and I'm not convinced yet, so neither are you."

The woman sent him a disgusted glance before smiling at Harry. "I'm Cassandra, and trust me, that jerk does not speak for me. It's bad enough that our two tribes have to work together in this stupid war under our stupid prince—"

"Hey," Aether interrupted warningly, "watch your mouth. That's treason."

Cassandra rolled her eyes, clearly showing she couldn't care less. "I'm a Succubus, and out of all those of my tribe that I've talk to, we'd rather follow you than Aubrey. The Elvens are being difficult only because Aubrey's more like them than us. We don't need a Halfling like him leading us."

"I am a Halfling as well, Cassie," Angelo murmured with a smile, "and I seem to remember you asking me to take over not a month ago."

Cassandra blushed but stuck out her pierced tongue at him. "You spoil everything, Angie. You're hardly a normal Halfling; you're more powerful than half our population put together."

"You are too kind," Angelo said softly. Kiran scowled at both of them.

"Flirting and such aside," Aether interrupted, his eyes only Harry again, "I would like to know exactly why you are so confident you can defeat the dark wizard. This for my people's information, of course," he added practically caressing the air with his voice. "I am personally most willing to follow you _anywhere_ you may go."

Harry forced himself not to shudder, thinking over his options. He could come up with something out of the blue and not sound very convincing, or he could tell the truth, betray Dumbledore, and take hundreds of Vampires from Voldemort.

"Why do I think I'll be able to defeat Voldemort?" he said, ignoring the way Ron and Hermione tensed beside him. "Because there's a prophecy that says so."

"Harry, no!" Hermione hissed, but Harry ignored her.

"The prophecy says that either I have to kill Voldemort, or he has to kill me, and there's no way I'll be going down without a good fight. And if that isn't good enough for you, then you're better off with Voldemort."

Aether stared at him for a moment before smiling faintly, actually looking charming for once. "Trust me, that's good enough for me."

Harry nodded once and looked over at Lupin. "Remus, now that Dumbledore's dead and the Order doesn't have a leader, do you think any of them will want to join us too? We could definitely use their help."

Lupin frowned slightly, glancing around at all the Vampires. "I'll talk to them, Harry. But I need to talk to you about something first."

"I know. I think we're almost done here." Harry turned questioning eyes back to Angelo. "We are, right? That's everyone."

"What about the D.A.?" Luna asked dreamily. "I think some of them will want to help."

"Yeah, you can't forget them, Harry," Neville said softly, looking extremely nervous to be talking at all among so many Vampires. "I'm sure they all still have their coins."

"That'll be difficult next year, though," Harry said sceptically. "I won't be there."

"But you moved that Vanishing Cabinet into the SGC. Weren't you planning to use that to visit?" Neville argued. He looked faintly embarrassed when Harry suddenly looked shocked and added, "Gabi, Luna, and I had our own little party yesterday for the end of the year and we noticed it. We didn't think you'd want to come."

"It's alright," Harry said, shaking his head. He frowned thoughtfully. "I probably could use it to come for meetings and just to visit. And Angelo could come and start teaching everyone wandless magic so we'll all know it."

"We should probably warn everyone about him first," Luna said.

"Yes, probably," Angelo said. He frowned down at Harry. "Do I not get a say in this? Perhaps I do not want to teach a bunch of students."

"Do you?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but I might not."

"But you do, so you will, right?"

Angelo sighed. "Only because you asked so very nicely."

"Thanks," Harry said with a grin. "What?" he asked when he noticed Ron and Hermione staring at him in shock.

"Don't you need the _other_ cabinet to use them, Harry?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"I do have the other one," Harry said carefully. "I own it."

"_How_?" Ron asked.

"That's another thing I have to tell you later," Harry said shaking his head. He turned back to Angelo. "That's it, right?"

"Yes." Angelo smiled at his fellow Vampires and bowed slightly. "Welcome to the Serpent Guard. Thank you for trusting in us."

"The _Serpent Guard_...?" was Ron's choked whisper, but he was ignored by almost everyone.

"When are we going to meet again?" Hamal asked before any chaos could start.

"I am not sure...we should meet before the summer is out..." Angelo glanced questioningly at Harry, who shrugged.

"I'm going to be at the Dursley's for a while, and they're pretty anti-magic, but I shouldn't be there long..."

"How about your birthday?" Cedric suggested. "It'll give you an excuse to have a large party without looking too suspicious."

"We should be out of your aunt and uncle's house by then, shouldn't we?" Hermione said, actually trying to make an effort to be involved as she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I can't see Voldemort finding anything off about a large birthday party," Harry said. He looked over at the twins. "Could you guys start arranging it?"

"Sure thing, Harry," Fred said with a grin.

"It'll be the best party you've ever had," George added.

"Thanks." Harry turned back to Hamal. "My birthday's July thirty-first, so it'll be around then sometime."

Hamal nodded once and turned to whisper something to Minkah. Everyone seemed to take this as the signal that the formal part of the meeting was over and the compartment was quickly filled with voices. Harry soon moved to take Hermione's vacated seat, as she'd gone over to talk with Victoria, so he didn't have to shout for Lupin to hear him.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked immediately, sensing that Lupin wanted to get whatever it was over with quickly.

Lupin shook his head, standing up. "Let's go outside. This needs to be somewhat private."

"Okay," Harry said, a little nonplussed. He got up and followed Lupin out into the corridor, then a short ways to another, surprisingly empty, compartment.

"Sit down, Harry," Lupin said, gesturing vaguely. Harry stared in shock as Lupin locked, silenced, and warded the door. What could be so important that he had to ensure they could not be interrupted?

Lupin sighed and sat next to him, running his fingers through his hair. "We have a bit of a problem. And by 'we' I mean the Order."

Harry frowned. "What kind of problem?"

"Well, you see, when a Secret-Keeper dies, the secret dies with them. The status of the secret remains the way it was when he died; anyone who knows, knows, and anyone who doesn't, doesn't.

"But you can see how that could present a bit of a problem. How are we supposed to recruit new members or hide people if none of us can tell the information of where headquarters is?"

"So, can you make a new Secret-Keeper?" Harry asked curiously.

"It's possible, but extremely difficult. I'm not sure even Filius knows how..." Lupin shook his head, continuing, "What's really important is that we do need a new one. We thought it best to consult you since you own the house."

"Whoever you pick is fine," Harry answered with a sigh. He hardly cared; he wouldn't be setting foot in the place again.

"Actually, since you own the house, we were wondering if you'd agree to do it."

Harry blinked and stared at him. "You're not serious?"

"Well, if you don't want to, we can find someone else, but it would make things simpler..."

Harry frowned and looked away at the scenery passing outside the window. The idea of being the Secret-Keeper of Grimmauld Place was as repulsive as owning it...but it would make quite a few things simpler, and he would have someplace to hide Draco if the blond came back to him.

"We can we do it?" he finally asked as he turned back to Lupin. Lupin allowed a small smile to touch his face.

"As soon as possible," he said. "Preferably before school starts next year—"

"I'm not going back, Remus," Harry said quietly.

Lupin paused for a moment before continuing on as though he'd heard more shocking news. "Before your birthday and giant alliance party, then."

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "I'll have to leave Privet Drive to go collect the second Vanishing Cabinet fairly soon. We can do it then."

"I'll see what I can do about arranging that," Lupin said with a nod.

"Great. Was that it? I think I need to socialize a bit or they'll think I don't care about the alliance," Harry said with a soft laugh.

Lupin let out a heavy sigh, one that was clearly put on. "If we must..."

Harry laughed louder this time. "Oh, come on, Remus, they're just vampires and Slytherins. Nothing to worry about."

Lupin smiled faintly as he began removing the layered spells from the door.

"Seriously, though," Harry added, "I would trust Angelo with my life, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he's bonded to me. I know you don't get along, but could you at least try?"

"We'll see. By the way, Harry," Lupin said, catching his arm before he could leave. "You never said where you got this second Vanishing Cabinet from."

"You can't tell anyone," Harry warned.

Lupin shook his head immediately, obviously immensely curious.

"Draco Malfoy gave it to me."

He took advantage of Lupin astonishment after this announcement and ducked out of the compartment before he could be stopped again.

The ride home seemed much shorter than usual, maybe because he'd never had so many new and interesting people to talk to, though he spent most of his time either discussing various things with Angelo or talking with Will, in whom he felt he'd found a kindred spirit. He also spent a good deal of the ride avoiding Ron (Hermione hardly spoke to anyone but Victoria the whole ride), who seemed to think that "I'll tell you later" meant "I'll tell you whenever I decide you've bugged me enough." He knew it wasn't exactly the best way to treat the friends who had just promised to stay with him at the Dursley's, but he had also never planned to tell them on the train in the first place.

All in all, he was rather surprised when the train began to slow to a stop. Quickly, he bid goodbye to Will and rushed to gather his belongings, fighting down the anxious feeling forming in his chest. After all, what could the Dursleys do? Both Ron and Hermione were seventeen and therefore perfectly capable of jinxing the three of them into jelly.

Yet, he was hardly surprised when Angelo and Kiran decided to accompany them off the train, both with grim expressions. He had a feeling Ron and Hermione weren't the only ones intending to have a talk with his relatives.

"I'm going to go talk to mum for a moment," Ron said as they reached the Muggle side of the barrier. He hardly waited for a response before rolling his trolley over to where Mr and Mrs Wealsey were waiting with Hermione's parents, Hermione herself following not far behind.

Harry shrugged and went on to where the Dursleys were waiting a good distance from either platform nine or ten.

Uncle Vernon blanched as soon as he saw Angelo and Kiran, no doubt remembering his meeting with the Order the previous year. Aunt Petunia took one look at them and immediately seemed to grow rather faint.

"So, you are the relatives I have heard so much about," Angelo said before either of them could speak. "There seem to be only two of you, however. Tell me, where is dear Dudley?"

Harry snorted softly, sharing a secret grin with Kiran.

Uncle Vernon turned an odd shade of puce. "Who are you? You're not with that lot that came last year, are you, because we never—" He suddenly paled again while Aunt Petunia gasped, a hand flying to her chest.

Angelo had smiled slightly, just enough to show off his fangs for an instant.

"I am a friend of Harry's," Angelo answered calmly, though Harry could tell he was extremely pleased by the response he had gotten. "A very good friend, one who has no need to wait for letters from him detailing your abuse. I can see it as it happens if I choose to."

"Now see here—"

"We don't need your pitiful excuses, Dursley," Kiran barked.

"And who are you? Some pretty nancy boy?" Uncle Vernon retorted.

Kiran smirked slightly, casually letting his coat fall open to reveal the awkwardly long sword Harry had gotten him for his birthday. "I'm something more terrible than you can imagine. And I'm far more powerful than my dear friend here or 'that lot' that spoke to you last year. I could easily make your life hell at any—"

"I think he gets the idea, Kiran," Angelo murmured with an amused smirk. "Besides, we will not be alone for much longer. I want to get this over with."

Kiran sighed and turned back to Uncle Vernon, who now looked very sickly. "I don't want to hear of Harry being mistreated in any way, Dursley. We've put up with it long enough, but now that we'll have a couple friends on the inside making sure he's alright, I'm sure there won't be any problems."

Kiran gestured to the small entourage headed their way, lead by Ron and Hermione. Mrs Weasley had her lips pursed as she stared at them, or rather, stared at Angelo. The twins were all grins, as though they knew exactly what was going on.

"Ready to go, Harry?" Ron asked as he reached them.

"Oh yes, I can't wait to see what your house looks like," Hermione added pleasantly.

Uncle Vernon's face was slowly regaining its previous puce colour as he stared at them and then turned to Harry. "What are they talking about, boy?"

"Didn't Harry tell you?" Hermione said innocently before Harry could answer. "We're going to be staying with him for a little while this summer."

Uncle Vernon was silent as he stared at her, his face slowly turning various shades of purple and red.

Sensing an explosion, Harry quickly said, "Hey, Ron, when did you say your birthday was again?"

Ron stared at him as if he'd gone mad. "March. C'mon, Harry, I turned seventeen this year, swallowed a love potion, and nearly died and you can't remember that?"

"And yours was September, wasn't it, Hermione?" Harry went on, trying not to grin.

"Yep. I turn eighteen this year," Hermione said proudly, obviously catching on. "I've been of age for almost a year now. I can't wait to practice a bit during the summer."

Harry watched these words turn over in Uncle Vernon's head with immense satisfaction. He could go against one of his most sacred laws and allow Harry's friends to stay, which would make Harry happy and would not result in having two wizards angry with him. Or he could deny their request and they would come anyway and he _would_ have two wizards angry with him. As with the Quidditch Cup, Harry could easily see the decision made before his uncle opened his mouth.

"V-very well," Uncle Vernon spat out, as though he were uttering curse words, "your friends are...are welcome to stay for a while, Potter."

Harry shared a grin with Ron and Hermione. "Thanks, Uncle Vernon. C'mon, the car's this way. Thanks," he added softly to Angelo and Kiran as he passed them. Kiran just smirked and Angelo bowed very slightly.

"Feel free to call on us at any time," Angelo responded. "Any of us."

Harry grinned back at him before he turned back to leading his friends out of the station. If anyone had asked him how he felt at the moment, he couldn't have given a simple answer. He was elated that his friends would be staying with him and that he would likely be treated properly by the Dursleys this summer. He felt immensely satisfied by his huge alliance that was only growing bigger. Determination to destroy the Horcruxes and fury at both Snape and Voldemort were mixed in there too, along with a deep mourning for how much he had lost this year, not only with Dumbledore but with Draco as well.

And through it all, Harry knew that the only solution was to keep moving forward, one small step at a time.

END OF PART FOUR

END OF BACKGROUND SECRETS

* * *

AN: Right, so, like it says, this is the end. There is no more...unless you go to my profile or your inboxes and click on "Red Sun Rising." Why? Because that's the sequal! Yes, it does continue, right into my own book seven. So y'all should go reas it! Remember, it's Red Sun Rising. 


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